Memories are a Fragile Thing
by shadriver
Summary: AU. Things never seem to go Kamijou Touma's way. He's a Child Error who just barely manages to scrap by with the allowance Academy City provides all those in his position. Everything starts to change as he meets up with a friend from his time in the orphanage and he's exposed to parts of Academy City that he thought he left behind, as well as a world completely out of fantasy.
1. SUPER-NATURAL'S ENEMY

_Author's Note: This is a series I've been into lately and I really want to try my hand at 'reinventing' it, strange as that may sound. I've been inspired by the numerous Toaru fanfics I've read on FF over the past, I don't know, month or so and it'd be far too time consuming to go over them all. That being said, there are some really good fics out there that you should read! To Ascend, He Will Surely Save, and Twist of Fate to name a few._

_As should be expected of a re-write of this kind, events shall not happen in, well, canon order. Some arcs that should happen at the same time won't, some might not even happen at all! Couple more things before we begin: My main experience, as of right now, comes from the anime so things will be slightly, um, biased to how events happened there, for now at least. I'm working my way through the Light Novels as we speak. Pairings are… not set, it's weird how I'm unable to get my mind set on one but then again, this is Raildex we're talking about. That said; don't expect our unfortunate Kamijou to be the center of every 'relationship.' OCs will also be a part of this story, with widely ranging values of importance though I will try my best to make sure they fit in the Toaru universe well. I think that's enough talking for now so let's begin!_

* * *

Chapter 1: SUPER-NATURAL'S ENEMY

**Location: ?**

**Date: June 11**

…Today was the day; the day where he got his revenge on those Judgment bastards. His grin widened at the prospect of finally teaching those self-righteous idiots a lesson. They deserved it, of course. Their inability to arrive on time caused him a lot of trouble and pain, not to mention their inability to even catch the perpetrators in the first place. He could hardly hold back his excitement as he looked at his own hands, marveling at the new found power he'd obtained.

Level Upper was truly Godsend.

He shook his head, remembering that he needs to focus on the task at hand. He sat in a park, a decent distance away from where he'd set up 'the bomb. 'He pulled out his 'new' phone; it'd been swiped off an… acquaintance a day ago, flipped open the screen, and checked the time. "Tsk. It's been 3 minutes." He slammed it shut and returned it to his pocket. Even when he was setting them up, they were late. Just his luck.

"I wonder if they'll get Anti-Skill involved too." He wondered aloud, though it was a whisper. It wouldn't do him any good if someone was eavesdropping on him. Anti-Skill was also pretty notorious for being late and while they were not his prime targets, them getting caught in the blast would have good results as well. Them being normal adults, they had a higher chance of being injured, as opposed to Judgment, which had a large quantity of Espers. Speaking of the devil, he spotted two Judgment members run along. One male and one female, neither with any notable qualities.

"Sir, we're evacuating the area on suspicions of a terrorist attack." The female called over, showing off her arm band. He merely nodded, stood up from his bench and walked away. He took one look over his shoulder, seeing the two head closer to his package and smirked to himself. He waited about 3 more minutes before activating his ability.

_BOOM!_

He couldn't stop the giggles from escaping his throat.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7**

**Date: June 16**

Kamijou Touma yawned as he walked back to his dorm, his day finally over. As usual, it was filled with misfortune, even in this city of science. Yes, that's correct; Touma lived in the amazing city of Academy City, which was said to be at least 20-30 years ahead of the rest of the world with their technology.

It was also known as the place where some rich guys decided that the world wasn't bad-ass enough, brought the western third of Tokyo, turned it into a city filled with schools and then decided to give the residents superpowers.

You read correctly, in this city of 2.3 million people, 80% are emotional, and probably angst-driven, students. And yes, a significant portion of them are now something akin to an anime protagonist. But it could be worse, a large portion of them could be nearly powerless and frowned upon because they don't have what it takes to truly awaken their abilities.

Oh wait, that describes about 60% of the student body. And at the bottom of the barrel of Level 0 students was Kamijou Touma, the certified weakest Esper, with no ability to speak of. No ability that can be detected by any of Academy City's computers anyways.

But the truth was he did have something that set him apart from other Level 0s, the ability known as Imagine Breaker. A mysterious power held primarily in his right hand, that negated any super natural force that came in contact with it, including the blessings of God, as he liked to say. Truly, it was the cause of his misfortune and he knew it. It was his hand's fault that he was required to stay after school this late, cleaning up the hallways after a certain… paint incident.

Touma shuddered in remembrance.

"Such misfortune…" He lamented. But surely it can't get much worse than this, right? The weekend begins now!

"Oi, idiot! There you are!" A chill ran up Touma's spine as he turned to face the owner of the voice he'd come to know oh so well. Wearing that ever so elegant Tokiwadai uniform, she'd been the main cause of his problems this week. Not to say she wasn't a problem before, it was just that she seemed to take extra care in running into him these days. He hadn't even noticed that he was walking across the bridge that usually ended in one of their 'meet-ups,' he'd been too caught up in his thoughts.

Such misfortune.

"Hey, Biri Biri." He gave a mock wave and a smile, which was quickly replaced with a look of fear as he instinctively held up his right hand and blocked a bolt of lightning that was sent his way. "_She's going to kill me one of these days._"

"My name is _Misaka Mikoto_, how many times must I drill that into you, idiot!" She stumped her foot down, electricity flowing into the bridge.

Ah, right, Mikoto; one of the seven Level 5 Espers, the highest Level that's currently reachable. As Third of the Seven, she had a reputation to up hold, though whether she actually did this was subject to debate that would most likely end in victory by knock-out in her favor.

"How many times do _I_ have to drill into _you_ that you shouldn't try to casually murder me every time we meet!?" He yelled back. "One of these days, you're really going to end up killing me!"

"Oh please." Mikoto smirked. "You always manage to block my attacks somehow."

"Oi, don't play that card!" He waved his hands in the air angrily. "If I had known this would be the result, I never would've tried to help you the first time!" Okay, that was a lie, he admitted to himself, but there was no way she could know that.

Actually, what was she doing? Normally, she'd give the classic tsundere response of "I-It's not like I asked for your help, idiot!" but instead, she seemed to be pulling a coin out of her pocket; if he was closer he'd notice that it was an arcade coin. "Are you even listening, Biri Biri!?"

Ignoring the nickname, for once, the number 3 Esper merely smirked. "Say … Do you know what a Railgun is?"

Touma's face noticeably darkened. Now, he was an idiot about a lot of things but he kept himself pretty well informed on the top Espers for numerous reasons, the most important being that his luck usually resulted in him not only meeting but _fighting_ these overpowered anime protagonists. In fact, Mikoto was the fourth Level 5 he'd run into during his stay at Academy City. It had to be a record of some kind. The Railgun noticed the look the spiky-haired boy was giving and her smirked widened.

"Oh good." She flipped the coin up. "Then I won't have to explain."

Touma acted quickly, he had to or else he'd most likely die, and dropped the bag he'd nearly forgot he was carrying to the ground. Mikoto flicked the coin as it reached her hand, sending it speeding at Touma. As the coin hit Imagine Breaker, the sound of glass shattered quaked out as the light slowly faded and the boy skid back several feet, somehow staying on his own feet. He straightened himself, dropping what seemed to be the remains of the coin as he did so, and then, with a deep breath, turned his attention back to the supposed ojou girl.

"What the hell was that!?" His eyes showing a whole new level of shock, "I was joking before but now I'm one hundred percent sure that you mean to kill me!" Mikoto laughed.

"You're an interesting guy, you know that?" Electricity crackled around her body. "I really want to fight you…" Touma looked down, hiding his eyes from Mikoto.

"You really want me to give it my all, huh?" His voice intimidating and intense, far different from the unlucky boy who stood there not ten seconds again, he looked up giving a smile. Mikoto took a step back. "Heheh. If you really want that, I can only say that a lot of misfortune will befall you."

"Tch." Mikoto stood her ground, grit her teeth and called from a lightning strike from the sky. The bridge vibrated as the electricity ran along it, lights nearby flickered and eventually fell. And then there was silence.

"YOU ACTUALLY TOOK ME SERIOUSLY!? SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

"HEY, GET BACK HERE! STOP RUNNING AWAY!"

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7 ; Kamijou Touma's Dorm**

**Date: June 17**

"Freak accident"

That's what they were calling the lightning bolt from last night. Mikoto's blatant attempt to murder him might not have worked as planned but if things stayed how they were, she just might win. See, the electricity had been cut off from a pretty significant part of District 7, including, but not limited to, a certain unfortunate boy's dorm. Even worse, while pretty much every electronic in his room had been shut down too, his heater somehow survived.

If you thought it couldn't get worse, then you were wrong because it currently it would. not. turn. off. As such, he was currently being baked alive, laying down on his futon, reading a random manga in nothing but his underwear.

"What time is it…?" He grabbed his alarm clock from the floor, next to his futon. He groaned in frustration as it was only 1:20pm, it'd take at least another two hours before power was returned to the dormitory. With his luck, however, it would probably take much, much longer.

"It's lunch time..." He thought with a grumbling stomach. Picking himself up, he waddled along to his refrigerator. Upon opening it, he shut it to protect his nose from the foul smell that seemed to now reside inside. "Just my luck, everything is spoiled. I suppose I have enough money to eat out today..." With a sigh, he walked back into the main section of his dorm, deciding that he should probably put something on, other than his underwear, before he went out. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't forgotten to do such a thing before.

That had been a weird day.

It didn't take long for him to find one of his spare uniforms, he'd only be out for a little while anyway, no need to be fancy. He made a quick check list:

Was there yen in his wallet? Check!

Did he have his debit card just in case he somehow ate more than he could afford? Check!

Got his keys? Check!

Is his phone charged? Check!

Was he 100% sure he had all his clothes on? Check!

"Today might not be so bad after all…!" He allowed himself a smile as he stepped out of his door, then paused. No random animal attacks, no 'stray lightning,' not even a surprise visit from one of the other members of The Delta Force. After a few more cautious steps, he broke out into a grin. "This Kamijou-san's day is starting to look pretty bright!" He was unsure why he still allowed such a possibility to present itself in his head.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7**

"AH! Saten-san, this is why I always tell you not to take alleyways an-!"

"More running, less nagging, Uiharu!" Two middle school girls, Saten Ruiko and Uiharu Kazari, raced through an alleyway. "Is your phone working yet?"

"No! Yours!?"

"Nope!"

Perhaps a bit of backtracking is necessary, yes? Planning to take advantage of the weekend, the two of them were heading to Seventh Mist for a major shopping trip. Wanting to get there quicker, Ruiko suggested they take a couple shortcuts. Said shortcuts led through the, usually empty, alleyways and other 'hidden' passage ways that were abundant around Academy City.

These spots were also the prime place to run into delinquents and, long story short, some had begun hitting on the girls so they did the natural thing and ran. The three delinquents didn't just give up, however, and chased after them. Being smart, the two pulled out their phones to contact Judgment, more precisely Shirai Kuroko. While Kazari was a Judgment officer too, she was not what one would call a field officer, preferring to stay inside headquarters and provide back-up from there.

The leader of the delinquents only grinned when he noticed, however, and with a quick flip of his fingers, their phones turned off. _"Electromancer…"_ was the word that had gone through both their heads at the time.

Back in the present, Ruiko pulled Kazari's arm and dragged her through another alleyway. Unfortunately, the girl with the flower headband wasn't prepared and tripped, taking Ruiko down with her.

"Sheez, what a bummer," one of the delinquents grinned as they stopped their chase, "if this is how you were going to end the chase, you shouldn't have run in the first place." Ruiko grit her teeth as she picked herself up.

"Come on, Uiharu. We have to-" She stopped as the smaller girl stood up, took a quick breath, and pulled a green arm band from her bag and displaying it to the thugs.

"I'm with Judgment, stand down now! If you continue this kind of behavior, I will be forced to arrest you."

"_Eeeeeh? Little late for that, don't you think, Uiharu?_" Regardless, it made the delinquents pause and mumble amongst themselves.

"Please, guys, she's still just one little Esper." The leader spoke up. He had short spiky yellow hair and a grin that looked far too blood thirsty. "And since she hasn't done something yet, I doubt she's strong enough to take me." He held up his left hand and allowed an electric current to flow through his arm, flicking in his palm. "I'm a Level 3 Electromancer, what do you got!?" Kazari paled.

"Level 3 Electromancer, eh? I've taken out worse." A voice came from behind the thugs, startling everyone in the alleyway.

"A smartass, eh? A hero too, apparently." The leader didn't turn around. "If you skedaddle now, I'll let you go." The hero expected this kind of response, however, and was quick to respond.

"Afraid of a Level 0?" If there was one thing a proud Level 3 hated, it was being talked down upon. Being a Level 0 only made it worse.

"Are you fucking with me, punk?" The leader turned, seemingly forgetting about Ruiko and Kazari for the time being. The two girls couldn't see the boy, judging from his voice, but Ruiko was sure she'd heard it before. "Take him down, boys."

"Right, boss!" One cracked his knuckles while the other ran forward, the first following him seconds later. Two shouts of pain, and one wham, later, the leader backed up.

"How the hell…?"

"If you guys think you can just bully others whenever you please …" The boy's steps rung out, the leader backed up more, electricity crackling around him. Ruiko and Kazari stepped back so that he wouldn't get close enough to take them hostage or something along those lines. "I'll smash that _fucked up illusion_ of yours!" The boy dashed forward and sent his right fist into the leader's face, the sound of glass smashing echoed throughout the alleyway as the leader was smashed him into the ground, being instantly knocked out. Afterwards, the boy cracked his knuckles and sighed.

"W-Who are-?" Kazari began.

"Touma-kun!?" Ruiko smiled; the boy looked over to the girls and recognition flashed across his face.

"Ruiko?" He cocked his head to the side a bit. And then his stomach growled.

_/Scene:_

**Location: Family Restaurant**

Deciding that a dark alleyway with several unconscious bodies wasn't the best place to have a conversation, Kazari hand-cuffed them to various pipes along the alleyway, as a Judgment member she always had a couple sets on hand. Since neither girl's phone were working, they used Touma's to call the nearest Anti-Skill station and within minutes, they were being hauled away. That being taken care of, Ruiko suggested heading to a near-by restaurant for lunch. The two girls had only gotten drinks, apparently saving their appetites for after they'd met up with their friends. Touma, meanwhile, slowly chomped down a cheeseburger.

"So… you two know each other?" Kazari sat in a booth with Ruiko by her side, Touma on the other.

"Yep! It's been a while though." Ruiko put a finger to her chin and thought for a moment. "Couple months, eh?"

"Ah, yeah. Sorry, I've been busy with school and … stuff." Touma sat the burger on his plate and nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Stuff meaning saving damsels in distress, right~?" The playfulness in her voice was unmistakable, Touma merely chuckled.

"Sounds about right…" He sighed, laying his head on his hand and looking down at the table. "And here I was thinking I could go a day without something like this happening… Such misfortune." He paused then looked up at Kazari, apparently remembering that they had yet to formally meet. "Kamijou Touma, by the way. Pleasure to meet you."

"Uiharu Kazari! The pleasure is mine, Senpai!" Kazari grinned while Touma gave another one of his near patented nervous smirks.

"Senpai? I'd prefer it if you wouldn't."

"Oh. Well, Kamijou-sama is okay, right?" She smiled again when he nodded, though his expression didn't change. "But how did you and Saten-san meet?"

"Oh well-," Touma began.

"We lived in the same Child Error facility for a few years," Ruiko finished for him. "To make a long story short."

"What!? Saten-san, you never told me that you're a Child Error!" Kazari's look of bewilderment amused the other two of their party; Ruiko pat her classmate's shoulder to try and calm her.

"Was a Child Error," she corrected, "my parents came back." Kazari nodded slowly.

"I see," she smiled. "I don't think there are many cases like that, now that I think about it."

"Tell me about it," Touma mumbled.

"Ah, Kamijou-sama! Excuse me, I didn't think abo-," she stopped as Imagine Breaker held a hand up.

"Just kidding; I don't hold any resentment or anything like that." Kazari's face reddened.

"Don't do that! I thought I'd seriously offended you!" Both Ruiko and Touma snickered before the latter decided that they should probably move the subject elsewhere.

"So you're a member of Judgment?" He gestured to the armband that she had yet to take off.

"Oh yes," she took off what amounts to her badge and placed it back into her bag, "I should probably take it off since I'm off duty right now."

"Speaking of Judgment, why don't you join, Touma-kun? You sure saved our skin back there." It was one of the things she bugged him about when they were in contact with each other, being well versed in his 'heroic' streak.

"Yeah. I think Kamijou-sama would make a great addition!" Kazari added in. Touma pretended to think about it for but a moment.

"Nah."

"Eh? That's it? No reason, just 'nah?'" The skirt-flipping girl gave him a skeptical look, which got a nonchalant shrug in response.

"Judgment does a fine enough job without me. Besides, I'm busy enough as it is."

"Busy saving people, right?"

"Not _solely _that but- "

"That's exactly what you do in Judgment!" The spiky-haired boy sighed, knowing that Ruiko wasn't one to let something like this drop. "Well that and a bunch of other stuff but saving people's the most important thing!"

"I'll think about it, no promises though." He shrugged. "I doubt I'd be able to do much as a Level 0 with no special skills." Ruiko looked like she was about to argue against that but she was interrupted.

"Actually, that reminds me of something that's been bothering me…" Kazari spoke up, "You have an ability, don't you? I mean, you said you were a Level 0 but something abnormal happened in that fight, right?"

"Uiharu's trustworthy, Touma-kun! You can tell her!" Kazari was confused. Was his ability a secret? Could it be that he was the mysterious Sixth of the Seven Level 5s!? That'd be amazing, knowing two Level 5s!

"Well, I am a Level 0," He began and Kazari's hopes were immediately dashed. "But, see, here's the thing. My right hand-," he only got as far as stretching out his hand before the flower headband wearing Judgment member's phone went off insider her bag. She took it out, examined the caller I.D. and was quick to answer.

"Oh, hello Shirai-san!"

"…!"

"Yes, I'm sorry we're late. We just took a break at a cafe."

"..."

"Me and Saten-san ran into a little trouble but we're okay."

"...!? "

"No, we took care of it. "

"..."

"Yeah, we're still coming. We aren't that far now, actually."

"..."

"Okay, see you in a bit." The flower-headed girl put her phone back in her purse, smiling as she looked at Touma. "Sorry but we'll have to cut this short, we have plans with some other friends but you can come with us if you like."

"Uh, no. I'm fine. Wouldn't want to impose or anything," he stretched his arms up. "I've held you guys up enough as is."

"Ah, forget about it!" Ruiko nearly yelled, getting the attention of some of the other customers. "You're not going to blow me off after not contacting me for months!"

"...Well, you didn't try to talk to me either..." She blushed at that, but only for a moment.

"Exactly. This is a prime opportunity to regrow our friendship." She grinned. "Besides, I want you to meet some other friends of mine. Granted, I don't know them that well either, I just met them yesterday after all... There's a really cool story behind that too." Touma was conflicted at this point, he did kind of feel bad for making them late to their group, but he was a bit curious as to his childhood friend's current happenings. That and anything was better than sitting in his smoldering room. Well, that settles it.

"Fine," he finally said, interrupting Ruiko in the middle of her little mini-rant to get him to join them, since he zoned it out a while ago.

"Oh good. I didn't even need to bring out the puppy dog eyes," Touma paled at her grin.

"I hate when you do that..." He looked off to the side. Kazari lightly shook her hand and stood up.

"Since that's settling, I think we should head out." Ruiko nodded in agreement while Touma shoved down the rest of his meal.

"Lead the way then, girls." He said as he stood up.

* * *

_Author's Notes: So yeah, first thing's first, a couple events happen a lot earlier than they do in canon, about a month to be exact. And then there's the other obvious thing, Ruiko and Touma grew up in a Child Error facility though at some point, her parents reclaimed her somehow. That'll be addressed later, of course._

_I don't think there's anything else I want to bring attention to in this chapter, other than me playing around with honorifics. If there's a problem with them, please inform me. While I did do a little research into it, I'm still don't completely trust myself on the subject. But yes, review and tell me what you liked or disliked, either or._


	2. LIFE GOES ON

_Author's Note: Updates are really sporadic for me, if you hadn't noticed, and is really determined by what fic I happen to feel like updating. That being said, I'm trying to work my way into a more consistent schedule but I can't promise anything._

_Deagle: Mmmm. While I won't comment on the Esper part, I can confirm that she won't be given any Magical abilities. She still went through the Power Curriculum Program, after all._

_Aznereth: Lets be honest here, does he ever?_

* * *

Chapter 2: LIFE AS NORMAL

**Location: School District 7**

**Date: June 17th**

Kamijou Touma could only sigh as he followed the two middle school girls, his hands behind his head and his thoughts elsewhere. Or at least they would've been had Ruiko not been jabbing him in the stomach every couple minutes. See, they'd started telling him about the friends they were taking them to, and more specifically the events that transpired yesterday but he wasn't paying enough attention to realize that. He knew that he should be, of course, but the story just wasn't interesting to him. That and he suddenly remembered that he had to go grocery shopping later today. "_What stores have what sales today,_" he wondered. "_Ug. I still have Tsukuyomi-sensei's homework too."_

"Ah, ow, yes, continue," he stuttered as she once again knocked him out of his daydreams.

"Sorry if our story isn't up to your standards, _Mr. Hero_." Ruiko looked pretty annoyed and Kazari looked embarrassed, if nothing else.

"Ah, no, it's not that. Really!" His hands scrambled in front of his face as he quickly blurted out. "I was just thinking about the homework I haven't done and how terrible it'll be doing it in my room."

"What's wrong with your room?" Kazari questioned.

"Oh. Um." He rubbed the back of his head. "The power is out in the part of the District I'm in but my stupid heater is permanently on. I don't even know how that works."

"Oh, I read about that today, the power outage I mean. I'm not sure what's wrong with your heater..." Kazari recalled looking through a couple articles on the subject back at the office. "Anyway, a random lightning bolt struck and hit one of the power plants."

"Random lightning bolt my ass, stupid Biri Biri..." Kamijou muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Quick on the response, Ruiko eyed Touma suspiciously.

"Nothing, just complaining about my luck."

"You still do that?"

"Of course, my luck has never stopped being consistently terrible."

"That's true." Ruiko laughed. "Did you walk under a hundred ladders or something?"

"Of course not, not even this Kamijou-san is that stupid. It's something much more sinister..." He slowly, and in a rather creepy fashion I might add, brought up his right fist. "It's all this thing's fault."

"Your... hand...?" Kazari cocked her head to the side while Touma blinked.

"Oh yeah, that phone call interrupted me back at the restaurant," he brought his hand down and looked at it. "In my right hand is the power to negate any supernatural force. That includes Esper abilities, and apparently luck too."

"What? That's impossible!" Kazari stopped and turned to Imagine Breaker quickly, causing the other two to stop as well. "You can't have an AIM Field that negates other AIM Fields. At least I've never heard of the Power Curriculum Program being able to do something like that..." Touma only rubbed his head with his right hand.

"That's the thing, it's not an Esper ability," he explained. "I've had this since birth."

"Oh! That rare event known as a Gemstone!" She wasn't sure Gemstones could have an ability like that either but well, she'd heard that the Seventh of the Seven Level 5s had an unexplainable ability and he was a Gemstone so...

"Not that either, I don't think. I don't have an AIM Field at all, so I'm technically a Level 0. The lowest Level 0, in fact," he said with a strange sense of pride despite the look of absolute dread on his face. The girl with the flower headband looked as if she was going to ask something more but decided against it, she'd have better luck looking into it later. As it were, nothing he was saying made any sense.

"N-N-N-No way!" Ruiko stuttered out, the other two looking at her strangely, not having noticed her mystified expression since Touma had first described his ability. "Y-You're the Negating Man, Touma-kun!?"

"Negating Man?" His eyes narrowed.

"It's only one of the biggest rumors going around the Net!" She grabbed his right hand. "A high school boy with the power to negate other abilities, who saves people whenever he sees them! How did I never put the dots together before! I can't believe it, it's real! And you, of all people!" She remembered way back when he first described his hand's weird tendencies to her and she remembered first hearing about the rumors on all those forums. She even recalled all those incidents he'd told her about, where he saved whoever he happened to run into! She should've guessed _years_ ago!

"What's that suppose to mean!?" He ripped his hand free and frowned.

"I didn't mean anything by it, honest."

"Sure you didn't..." He paused. "What else is in that rumor?" He asked, honestly curious. He wasn't aware that his exploits, for lack of a better term, were well known.

"Oh, well..." She thought about it as they started walking again. "It's pretty commonly theorized that you're also the same guy who regularly fights with the Third ranked Level 5 Esper." Touma's face paled.

"_Fights!? More like murder attempts! Wait, how to they even know about those!?_"

"Ah, Saten-san, that's Misaka-san!" Kazari took a glance back at Touma.

"Misak-You two know Biri Biri?" Touma's eyes widened after he realized his mistake.

"...Biri Biri?" Ruiko raised an eyebrow.

"Ah! Don't tell her I called her that, please!" He practically begged. "She'll kill me for sure!"

Kazari blinked in confusion. "Are you and Misaka-san not on good terms?"

"Uh, I wouldn't even say we're on terms, period." He sighed and raised a hand to his forehead. "It's complicated."

"So you are that guy! Ha, JTC006 is going to eat his words!" The Level 0 girl grinned and rubbed her hands together, almost evilly.

"I think you two could be friends," Kazari turned to Touma again. "Maybe you can talk it out with her once we reach Seventh Mist?"

"Ah, I doubt i- Wait!" Eyes widened, pulse quickening, misfortune senses tingling, "Bir-Misaka is the friend you're taking me to meet!?"

"Her and Shirai-san, yes." Kazari nodded. "You really weren't paying attention to our story, were you?"

"No, sorry about that again." Touma bowed before his mind went back to self-preservation mode. "Also I can't go with you guys! This Kamijou-san isn't prepared to die today!" Ruiko grabbed a hold of his right arm.

"No way am I not confirming whether or not you're telling the truth." She dragged him and picked up her pace, as Kazari moved to keep up with them.

"Saten-san, hold on!"

"We're friends, right, Ruiko!? Can't you just believe me!? Don't you want to see this Kamijou-san live a long life!?"

"Now you're just being dramatic! I'm sure you won't die."

"Such misfortune!"

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Seventh Mist**

Kamijou Touma had long since accepted his fate, or maybe he was banking on the fact that Biri Biri wouldn't attack him in a crowded area. Either one. Currently, they were on an escalator to the second floor.

"You can let go of me now, Ruiko."

"I'm not risking you running off on me."

"Saten-san, is this really necessary?"

"You bet it is!" The skirt-flipper smiled and looked at Kazari, "besides, it'd be for the better if we got Touma-kun and Misaka-san on better terms."

"That's true but..."

"Ah forget about it, Uiharu-san. Once Ruiko gets in this kind of mood, there's little that can stop her." Kazari could only nod, having been through a few situations like this herself. They walked along the second floor for a couple minutes before spotting the two Tokiwadai students sitting at one of the tables outside a small restaurant, apparently enjoying drinks.

"Ah, there they are! Shirai-san, Misaka-san, sorry for making you wait!" Ruiko called out, using her free hand to wave at them.

"Well it's about time-!" A rather petite looking girl with pig-tails began before she noticed the extra. "Who's this ape?" Touma frowned at the insult and was about to respond but he was cut off.

"You!" He heard the other girl growl and as he expected, there was Misaka Mikoto. Third of the Seven.

"Uh. Hey." Were the only words he was able to get out.

"Don't you 'hey' me! Just what do you think you're doing here?" The venom in her words was almost tangible. Obviously, she was still a little swore that he escaped yesterday.

"Onee-sama, you know this man!?" The pig-tailed girl turned to the Railgun with a look that could only be described as traumatized, though the other girl ignored her question.

"Calm down, Misaka-san. He's a friend of mine; he also happened to save us earlier today," Ruiko explained. Mikoto narrowed her eyes.

"Still saving damsels in distress, huh?" She grinned.

"Yeah, most don't try to kill me afterwards, though." He cursed himself internally as soon as he said it, he really had to cut down on his snark.

"Why you-! I didn't need you to save me in the first place!" She yelled, standing up and allowing electricity to sparkle around her.

"Onee-sama! Calm down, we're in public!" Though panicked, the way she held herself while saying it made Touma think that this was a normal occurrence for Kuroko. He pitted her.

"Ah, Biri Biri! Kamijou-san apologizes!" He clapped his hands together and paused, a sense of misfortune dawning on him.

"Biri Biri?" The other Tokiwadai middle schooler couldn't hold in her giggles.

"What did you just call me?"

"_Shit!_" Instinctively, he threw up his right hand and negated the electric spear that flew his way. The familiar sound of shattering glass filled the air as other customers, who weren't already attracted by the sound of shouting, were now interested in their confrontation. "M-Misaka, please! This isn't the place for a fight!"

"Yes, we were hoping you could just talk," Kazari brought up, she was too caught up in the situation before to speak. Ruiko cleared her throat as well.

The third strongest Level 5 looked around and sighed before flopping back down in her seat, the onlookers eventually going back to their own business once they realized nothing was going to happen. "Fine, let's talk." Perhaps, if things went okay, she'd be able to convince him to tell her his secret.

"Wait!"

"Huh? What's wrong, Kuroko?" Mikoto turned her head to her roommate, finally putting a first name to the face.

"What exactly is your relation to this gentleman? All of you! What's even going on here!?"

"Oh, remember when I told you that Saten-san and I had gotten into some trouble?" Kazari began as Kuroko nodded. Taking a seat at their table, they began to retell what happened earlier today.

"You defeated a Level 3 Electromancer? Impressive." Kuroko nodded her head. "You must be a very high level yourself, correct?"

"Nah," Touma began, though he didn't notice Mikoto's face turn red as she knew exactly what he was going to say, "I'm just a Level 0." She could barely contain her need to shock the high school boy, regardless of whether or not it did anything.

"I-Impossible! There's no way I can accept a Level 0 defeating a Level 3."

"Hold on, Kuroko!" Ruiko interrupted her. "He _does_ have something~" She grinned. "He's the Negating Man!"

"The what?" Kukoro was not amused.

"Jeez, you guys need to look into rumors more..." She nudged Touma. "Go on, tell them about it."

"Ah, yes. Misaka, you'd be interested in hearing this," Touma nodded before rising his right hand. Mikoto leaned forward in her seat, taking a sip of her drink while Kuroko looked similarly interested. Without wasting another second, Touma explained to the two about Imagine Breaker and its abilities, which resulted in a pretty obvious conclusion.

"You can't honestly expect me to believe that!" Was their simultaneous response.

"Ah, me and Onee-sama have finally linked our brain waves together!" The Level 4 Teleporter's eyes went into a dreamy state as she practically jumped at her elder. "There's no way that you can deny our compatibility now!" Of course, this resulted in her falling to the ground with a currently unknown voltage of electricity going through her veins.

"U-Um..." Touma stumbled with his words, suddenly very happy that Mikoto was never able to actually hit him with her attacks. He cast Ruiko a questioning glance, she returned with one that plainly said 'don't ask.'

"Anyway," Railgun crossed her arms and placed one leg over the other. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Y-Yeah, I suppose so." He'd never really questioned the logic behind his hand, mostly because whenever he did it would result in a headache. "But that's how it is." Mikoto narrowed her eyes and stared at him. "Seriously!"

"While I don't see how it's possible either, I can't think of any other explanation." Kazari frowned and looked down. The Level 5 took a deep breath.

"Fine. I'll accept it for now." She narrowed her eyes and stared directly at him. "Though, if you can negate anything I throw, you wouldn't mind playing a game of 'catch' every now and then, huh?"

"I would very much prefer to not, thank you." He crossed his arms and nodded.

"Hey, uh, how about we get to doing what we actually planned on doing then?" Ruiko brought up.

"Right!" Kazari clapped her hands. "Shopping."

"_Shopping!?_" Imagine Breaker's mood dropped instantly, if it was even capable of going lower. But alas, he was already here and there was no way that Ruiko would let him leave even if he tried. At least he wouldn't have to buy anything.

_/Scene:_

Once again, Touma was forced to wait outside of a shop while the girls ventured inside. Well, I say forced but it was his own choice. He knew his misfortune well enough to know that going into a women's clothing store would only end in disaster. Which it already had on several different occasions.

Admittedly, he was starting to regret his decision. They'd been gone for 20 minutes in this store alone. Weighing his options, however, he figured that he had made the right decision.

"Such misfortune..." He mumbled as he leaned his head back against the top of the bench and closed his eyes. He prepared to start dozing off, he prayed that Mikoto wouldn't attack him when she returned, but didn't get too far into dreamland before his bench was tilted, prompting him to fall off. "Oi, what's this all about!?"

"Where is your usual amount of guts, Kamijou-san!" He'd hear a voice shout, Imagine Breaker's eyes widened and his face turned into one filled with contempt. There was only one person he knew who used the word 'guts.' "You're better than this!"

"How do you keep managing to find me!?" Jumping back on his feet, Touma faced the Seventh of the Seven Level 5 Espers, Sogiita Gunha. "Sogiita!"

"Guts attract guts! You should know that by now!" Gunha's grin nearly made Touma punch him, but that'd just start a fight. And he did _not _want that, not since the last time he fought against the 'Black Box' anyway. He was happy that the Level 5 had paid off the damages to all those buildings, which he should've since he was the one who caused them but Touma was used to having to pay for things he was not involved in.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Touma stared down the similarly spiky-haired boy. "Whatever. What do you want?"

"Are you having an off day? You're usually filled with more guts than this." Gunha's face filled with concern, Touma wouldn't feel right giving a sarcastic answer.

"Yeah, actually." He took a quick look around him to make sure his group wasn't coming his way, though more specifically a certain female Level 5, "today's been a long day filled with close calls and annoyances. More than usual, I mean. Just once, I want a day where I don't fear for my life... Though I can't imagine you understand something like that." Surprisingly, Gunha nodded.

"Mhm, mhm, sometimes a guy has to take a day off." Touma blinked. "Life's just too much."

"M-My thoughts exactly!" This was... impossible, wasn't it? Sogiita 'GUTS' Gunha understood him? Was he asleep? Had he fallen into some parallel world like some generic manga plot?

"Actually, I've got a fool proof way to avoid those days as much as possible." Gunha nodded again. "With it, I've never once had an off day." Now Touma was curious. The secret behind Attack Crash's near infinite energy supply was right in front of him; he had to know. He had a quick vision of all the things he could do with Gunha's energy and livelihood. Gym class would be a breeze; Komoe-sensei would never hold him after class because he was too lazy, no, busy to do his homework; Fukiyose would never attack him for lazing around; the possibilities were limitless.

Gunha waved his hand, suggesting that Touma lean in close so he could whisper it to him. If he used his better judgment, he wouldn't have even thought of doing it but caught in his daydream, he did so without a thought.

"Well...?"

"Guts!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, which I can assure you is several times higher than you can possibly imagine, shocking Touma enough to cause him to fall over and curse loudly.

"How did this Kamijou-san not expect that kind of answer! Such misfortune!" Gunha laughed with his hands on his hips as Touma rolled around on the floor, nursing his ear. "I never expected you of all people to be this cruel, Sogiita!"

"Sorry, Kamijou-san, but this is all a part of your training!"

"My training!? This Kamijou-san, in no way, shape or form, ever agreed to such a thing with you!" Touma picked himself up, glaring at the boy with similar tastes in hair styles.

"That's exactly why I'm doing it! You have a very high amount of guts already but if you ever want to reach my level, you need some work!" He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world; a smile on his face. "You lack the ability to ask for help so I'm doing it without you asking!"

"Why would I ever want to have as many '_guts_' as you!?" Throwing his hands into the air, Touma attracted a bit of attention to the two of them, if the screaming wasn't already. "I swear, you Level 5s are all insa-" He never got to finish as a scream came from the direction of the store.

"There are _two _of you now!?" Misaka Mikoto dropped her bags. "They're multiplying!" Turning to her friends with a face full of fear and shock, they could do nothing but marvel at the physical similarities between the two boys.

"I look _nothing_ like him, Biri Biri!" Imagine Breaker was quick to respond, not caring about her incredibly apparent hatred for the nickname, and just as quick to negate a spear of electricity.

"Now that's the kind of guts I was talking about!" Gunha's grin grew even wider. "Hey, Biri Biri, shoot me one too!" She obliged, though whether it was because he asked or because of the nickname, he would never know. Similar in style to Touma, Gunha raised his right hand but as opposed to negating the attack, he deflected it into the ceiling, causing the lights to flicker.

"Onee-sama!"

"Aaaah! Misaka, Sogiita, stop!" Touma yelled, going in between the two. Mikoto would note that he kept his right side to her.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fry this copy?"

"He's not my copy, we look nothing alike!"

"Actually, you kinda do."

"Not helping, Ruiko!" Touma growled.

"Wait a minute, did you say Sogiita?" Kuroko stepped in front of Mikoto, "as in Sogiita Gunha?"

"That's my name!" He placed his hand on his hips again, his jacket acting similarly to a cape and flowing in the nonexistent wind. No one paid that any mind though.

"You're the 7th ranked Level 5!" A look of disbelief crossed over her face as she turned to Touma. "Just how many Level 5s do you know?" He started counting fingers.

"Four or five, I guess." He nodded as he was satisfied with that answer, though he questioned why he didn't give a definite number.

"What-? You can't be serious? Do you treat them all the same way you treat me?" Crossing her arms, Mikoto had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"How are you still alive?"

"A-Ah, everyone!" Kazari gripped her bag tightly, a bit timid underneath the stares of the crowd of people that had long since formed around them. "I-I think we've formed a bit of a scene." The rest of the group glanced around, having forgotten there were in a not only public but a nicely populated area. Used to this kind of thing, Touma was the first to respond.

"Nothing to see here, move along! Just some friends having an argument!" Touma began waving them off, the last thing he wanted were _more _rumors spreading about him.

"I think we should just go. We have what we came for," Ruiko held up her bags for emphasis and they all nodded in unison.

"It's been fun, Sogiita, it really has but-," he stopped as he realized that the Seventh of the Seven had disappeared. "That guy..." Ruiko walked over to him and poked his shoulder.

"You are Touma-kun, right? You didn't switch places with that guy?" She gave her best serious looking face.

"That's not funny, Ruiko." Touma's deadpan brought out a laugh as the group quickly made their way through the crowd.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Outside Seventh Mist**

"Well, it's been fun but I should probably leave." Touma turned to face the girls, "I still have to go grocery shopping before heading home."

"Yeah, I have to get going to. Curfew's pretty early for us middle schoolers." Ruiko noted while scratched the back of her head. At the mention of curfew, Mikoto quickly pulled out and checked her phone.

"Ah, Kuroko! We're going to be late if we don't head back right now!" The fear in her voice was enough to send shivers up Touma's spine, and it looked like it did the same to Kuroko. Just what could make a Level 5 so scared of being late...?

"It's been a pleasure, Saten-san, Uiharu-san, Kamijou-san, but we should really go." With a quick wave from the both of them, the twin tailed girl grabbed a hold of Misaka's shoulder and then they were both gone.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Kamijou-sama." Uiharu smiled and bowed. "And thank you again for saving us."

"Ah, it was nice meeting you too." He smiled back. "And don't worry about it."

"Yeah, a third of this city would be in his debt if people did."

"A third? Isn't that a huge exaggeration?"

"Might be a bit of an understatement, actually..." Ruiko seemed to be genuine thought as she counted the amount of stories he'd told her in her head.

"Anyway, later." Touma didn't wait for her to finish, turning around and walking down the street, waving at them as he did so.

"Hey, Saten-san?" Kazari spoke up once he was a nice distance away.

"Yeah?"

"Kamijou-sama's a really nice guy." Ruiko smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, just like I remember."

**Location: School District 7; Second Tokiwadai Dormitory**

The day had been pretty enlightening for Misaka Mikoto. The seemingly enigmatic boy who'd been plaguing her thoughts the past few days wasn't nearly as mysterious as she imagined, which was honestly kind of a downer. It was kind of like being really excited when a new, fancy restaurant opens up, and then your friends surprise you by taking you there but it turns out that the food's only mediocre.

He seemed pretty normal, right hand aside. That was a whole other can of worms that she wasn't sure she'd ever figure out. She was a bit ashamed to admit it but the Imagine Breaker ability had been on her mind the whole day.

"What do you think of him, Kuroko?" Mikoto asked absentmindedly from her bed. Her roommate looked up from her school work and turned towards the elder girl.

"What do you mean, Onee-sama?"

"Kamijou Touma." she clarified. Kuroko's face took on an unreadable emotion before it settled on annoyance.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in him as well..." The Teleporter tapped her pencil on her desk. "But there are more important things that I need to work out right now."

"Is your homework really that difficult?"

"How could Onee-sama have such low standards for me..." She grieved while Mikoto giggled.

"The Graviton Bombings, huh?" Kuroko nodded.

"Their frequency is increasing, Judgment and Anti-Skill are scrambling around." She sighed and held a tint of defeat. "It's quite the mess, to be honest." If only they had a hint...

"I can imagine so." This would be a good way to get her mind off of him, Mikoto figured. That and getting this figured out would really help things for Kuroko and the city in general.

"Konori-senpai got caught in one today, you know."

"What? Is she okay?"

"Yes, she came out with minimal injuries. Unfortunately, another member of Judgment did get severely injured protecting a civilian." Her tone went a little dry. "That's the eighth member of Judgment that's been-" her breath got caught in her throat as she realized a link no one had noticed before.

"Kuroko...?" The Railgun was a bit anxious, it seemed like her roommate had figured something out.

"Onee-sama... In the 9 bombings, 8 members of Judgment have been at the epicenter, and subsequently injured. That's too much of a coincidence..." The Railgun's eyes widened.

"You can't be implying-"

"Yes. I think that the Graviton Bomber is targeting Judgment members." She spoke her own words with a hint of skeptism.

"But why would anyone specifically target Judgment?"

"Many people resent Judgment and Anti-Skill because they're late to arrive on occasion." Her tone held a bit of contempt, she didn't want to admit that her organization was too late to actively help a situation on a number of cases, and regret for the same reason. "I can imagine someone wanting revenge for that."

The Judgment member frowned. "Unfortunately, that doesn't narrow down our search. Our only lead, the only person who could possibly achieve these crimes, is still in a coma."

"I remember you telling me that the only Level 4 Synchrotron user was in a coma but there are other, lower Level users, right?"

"Of course. Why do you ask, Onee-sama?"

Mikoto frowned and avoiding looking at Kuroko, taking a glance at her bed. "Do you think, maybe, that rumor Saten-san was talking about earlier could be connected?"

"Level Upper..." Initially, she met the rumor just as any other normal person would, complete and utter disregard. But now... "I need to contact Konori-senpai right away." She reached for her phone.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Uiharu Residence**

Kazari shivered again, closing her laptop shut as she finally finished reading several articles. She sucked in a deep breath, tears beginning to swell up in her eyes, before she decided to go back over what she'd found out. At first, she merely wanted to know more about his ability and the Academy City Bank was the best place to go. It held every single student inside and detailed their abilities and Levels.

It didn't tell her much.

He was a high school student, a Level 0, and apparently had multiple confrontations with both Judgment and Anti-Skill but no actual criminal record; she tried to dig deeper into that but couldn't find a thing.

The only thing that stood out was the fact that he had no listed ability. Even Level 0's had an ability, they just weren't capable of actually using them, and so the Bank had that ability placed in their information. But Touma had none. That went along with what he'd said, he had no AIM Field so Imagine Breaker wasn't Esper related. As such, it was not listed in the Bank either because they acknowledged that it wasn't from the Power Curriculum Program or because they didn't know it existed. Either one was a possible answer.

That only made her curious, more about the boy now and not the ability. She searched for information on him and, needless to say, was horrified.

_Kamijou Touma: The Plague_

_Plague Strikes Again_

_Blood is not Enough to Stop the Plague_

Those were the names of some of the articles she found, either that or something similar. They went into excruciating detail on the boy who caused bad luck to all who met him, and subsequently himself. It told of how the boy was stabbed by a man who lost his entire company and fortune a mere day after meeting him; how a television studio began to tape his life for a reality show, '_Simply Misfortunate,_' without permission from him or his parents and how his parents were killed in a car accident after they'd picked him up from school. His remaining family didn't want him, the city didn't want him, nor did any nearby orphanages accept him since they'd heard of the rumors. He would've been homeless had Academy City not offered to take him in. Perhaps worst of all, the articles never once seemed to care about how the boy was doing in these circumstances. It was always quick to put blame on him, even his parents rather violent deaths.

There was one article about his time in Academy City, however, and it was... different. It told of how a Child Error facility had been attacked by an Esper. The article didn't go into the specifics of _why_, it seemed the Esper went insane and lost his mind sometime during the attack, but it does note that no one was injured. When Fire Fighters arrived on the scene, a boy had just dragged the last of the, seemingly, unconscious occupants out and fainted upon being questioned. From what she could gather, that boy was Touma.

Uiharu had to stop at that point.

She wanted to know no more.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Kamijou Residence**

Kamijou yawned as he finally made his way back inside his room. He dropped the bags of groceries he'd picked up on the way back on the kitchen's floor then wabbled his way to the futon. The day had been draining to an almost shocking level, ironically not because Biri Biri tried her usual tactics.

He smiled a bit to himself as it seemed like the electricity was back. Though unfortunately, his heater _still _wouldn't turn off. Resigned to having an eternal heater, he simply turned on his AC and headed to bed.

_/Scene:_

**Location: ?**

Running, fleeing, those words meant the same thing to her. They had this entire year. If she wasn't running then she was safe; she was conserving her energy for when she needed it. If only she had mana. Then those Magicians wouldn't be so comfortable chasing after her all the time. For not the first time, she wished she could do more than this.

Do more than run.

She had all the knowledge the world had to offer and could do nothing. It was a depressing thought, which is why she never harbored it too long. She had more important things to think about anyway, like finding a place to eat. It was the middle of the night and, even in Academy City, most restaurants had long since closed.

Heh, Academy City. It was easier to sneak in than she thought it would be; she attributed it to an apparent power outage.

But there was another side to her good fortune, this also meant that the Magicians are almost certainly in the city too. So she had to incredibly careful not to get others involved in the situation. She took a deep breath as she stopped her feet, feeling that she was safe for now. Being safe meant that she had a good opportunity to ditch her chasers for good, though that'd require ditching her Nun's Habit which was not something she was ready to do. Not now at least. Though, she figured, she could get a new one when she reached a Church. And then she would be truly away from danger.

But for now, she'd stop where she was and rest. Yes, sleep sounded very good to her right then. She propped herself against the wall of what seemed to be an apartment complex and closed her eyes. She couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Kamijou Touma's Apartment**

**Date: June 18**

With a stretch and a yawn, Touma awoke, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight. "Good morning." He said to no one in particular as he mentally prepared himself for the coming misfortunes.

Though, perhaps today did not have to be full of misfortune. He could stay inside today, it was Sunday so there was no school and he didn't really have any other obligations. He'd just gone grocery shopping so he had food. If he was bored, he could watch the television or do his homework. Yes, that's right. A whole day inside, to himself, with no outside contact. Kamijou Touma was sure he could pull it off.

That is, until he heard his phone ring. He mentally debated the odds of the phone call doing something that would make this day as misfortunate as the last but he gave in once he saw that it was Ruiko who was calling. He brought his fifth cell phone this year to his face.

"Hey."

"_Hey, um, Touma-kun... I have a bit of a problem..."_

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Windowless Building**

"What do you mean 'we're not allowed to search yet?'" He was annoyed, to say the least. In front of him was the General Superintendent of Academy City, sometimes referred to as some dude floating upside down in a green tube by uninformed people. Or people with a death wish. Either or.

"Exactly what I mean, Stiyl, was it?" Not moving an inch, not by his own will anyway, Aleister Crowley looked down, or was it up(?), at the flame Magician. Said Magician scowled, even more than usual. "I am not forbidding you from taking the girl. I merely wish that you wait."

"You know her condition-"

"And I know that she still has a month of time, yes." There was no outward sign of it but Stiyl somehow felt that he was annoying the white man. "You shall have plenty of time to retrieve her when I allow you to. Until then, please remain outside the city."

Stiyl, utterly conflicted, thought about his options. It was pretty obvious that the General Superintendent had a plan for the girl, and whether or not he actually went against his order probably didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but he was incredibly likely to get them both killed if he did go against him. No, not even Aleister would be able to get away with killing the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. "...Fine, okay. But you better have me contacted the second I'm able."

"Of course, of course. I'll have you escorted out now." The flame Magician nodded as a red headed Teleporter appeared next to him and before he knew it, he was outside of the building with no windows again. With a groan, he quickly pulled out a cigarette and lit it, Crowley didn't allow such things inside.

"This better be worth it." He mumbled as he began walking, preparing to leave Academy City for the time being.

* * *

_Author's Note: That's two chapters down, eh? I've thought a long time about whether or not I want to do the Index Arc and the Level Upper Arc at the same time. Not just for the sake of being different from the source material but because I was worried about portraying two different arcs at the same time but I feel like I've got a plan that'll work out in the end._

_As for names, Shifting Sides Arc, that's what I'm going with! Because both the Science Side _and_ the Magic Side are making moves. It's a little dumb, I know, but it's the best I've got._

_Hopefully, future arcs will have better names._

_Speaking of future arcs, I've got the next few mapped out, and if my estimations are right, it's about 35 chapters worth of plans. That's a pretty big amount, yea_


	3. INDEX-LIBRORUM-PROHIBITORUM

_Author's Note: Happy New Years, everyone!_

_The name Shifting Sides Arc has grown on me, it really has, so I think I'll stick with that._

_damienus1019: Thank you so much! And I'm really happy that you're looking forward to the chapters! I try to make the chapters long but each chapter has a certain cut off point, as far as important information goes. That being said, this chapter's a long one. For me anyways._

_Han-Ko: And thanks for the review! Hopefully, I've got some stuff that keep you guessing. I'm pretty satisfied with them myself._

_Agent Nine: Thank you, that means a lot! As for your second question, you'll find that out in this chapter, actually._

* * *

Chapter 3: INDEX-LIBRORUM-PROHIBITORUM

**Location: School District 7**

**Date: June 18th**

"_Hey, um, Touma-kun... I have a bit of a problem..._"

Saten Ruiko would not say more after that. Touma doubted she was trying to be secretive but the phone call had ended, suddenly, after that and she didn't pick up any of his other calls. Now fairly worried, he couldn't justify staying inside all day and was quick to get dressed and head out.

He had ended up sleeping pretty late, it was already past noon, so the city was packed. Students were buzzing about, trying to squeeze the last bit of fun they could out of the weekend, which reminded Kamijou that he had _still _not finished his homework. Nothing a sleepless night wouldn't fix, he figured, though he had a feeling that he wouldn't be having much sleep tonight for a different reason.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he knocked on Ruiko's door. Admittedly, he'd gotten a bit lost on his way to her dorms, he'd missed the bus so he just decided to walk, but none of that mattered as he was there now. There were a couple quick shuffling sounds, a crash to two, and maybe a yell of '_hide!_', before Saten finally opened the door.

"Touma-kun! About time!"

"Yeah, sorry." He blinked. Where they really going to ignore all those sounds just now? "What was that...?"

"Was I loud?" She almost giggled but her question was sincere. At his nod, she sighed. "Well, I need to work on that, I guess. Come on in." She gestured for him to follow as she stepped back into her student apartment. Touma closed, and locked, the door behind him. The female Level 0 was not known to keep her room in tip top shape, though Touma would admit that it was better than his, her room was a far cry from what it usually was. In a bad way. Her refrigerator door hung open, and was surprisingly empty, and there were various wrappings and such thrown across the floor. The main portion of her room looked no better, but it was at least closer to the usual. There were papers thrown about, some homework related while others seemed to be articles about rumors and other miscellaneous things that the girl seemed to find interesting.

"Did a tornado blow through here?" He mused, a grin planted on his face. "Wait, you didn't call me here to help you clean up, did you?" Genuine worry spread through his being.

"Of course not!" Her hands on her hips, she looked more than insulted. "There is something very serious."

"Is it safe to come out?" The misfortunate boy's eyes widened at the unfamiliar, and surprisingly sweet, voice that came from somewhere in the room.

"Mhm. This guy's going to help you out, I'm sure." The female Level 0 assured whoever was here.

"Um. Ruiko...?" He eyed the girl carefully but his attention was soon completely taken away by the girl that crawled from underneath Ruiko's bed. She was obviously a foreigner, her long, white (no, silver) hair and green eyes told him that. She had a cute face, and fair skin, and wore a white... habit, yes, that's what nuns wear. "Who?" Touma's mind raced. _Who was this girl? Why was she here? Did she sneak into the city? Is that why she was hiding when he knocked?_

"Calm down and let me explain." Ruiko suggested, moving her arms in tandem. He wasn't freaking out outwardly but she knew he had a knack for letting his mind go crazy, so he tried his best to keep those in check.

"Hello." The foreigner spoke and stuck her hand out, intending for him to shake it. He did so lightly, blinking.

"Uh, hey."

"Okay so long story short, I found her collapsed outside my room when I woke up today." She explained it in such a rush that she wasn't sure Touma understood her, but a quick nod from him confirmed that he did. "I brought her in and fed her... She kinda ate everything though." The foreign nun frowned, puffed out her cheeks, and crossed her arms in a way that could only be described as cute.

"I'm hungry."

"Don't you mean you _were _hungry?" Kamijou asked, thinking maybe she had just made a mistake. It was common for those unfamiliar with the language to do so.

"No. I'm still hungry." Ruiko turned to him with a smile that basically spelled out her request.

"I was wondering if you'd take her to your place give her something eat. I'm all out..." She explained. "and, well, you're a really good cook so..."

"Okay." He said, blankly. Perhaps it was because he was still tired, maybe his brain had finally stopped functioning properly, or maybe there was something about the little nun that made him want to help her. Either way, Touma had nothing on his mind but to accept her request.

"I know it's sudden bu- Wait, 'okay!?'" She gave a breath of relief. "See, I told you he'd be fine. Needed less convincing then I thought though..." She mumbled the last part.

"What's your name?" He turned to the nun again.

"Index." She smiled at him. "And thank you for helping me."

"Index...? That doesn't sound fake at all." Ah, there it was. Snarky, sarcastic Touma was back. "What do you think this is, some shounen manga where you can just pick a word and apply it to yourself? It's a pretty childish thing to do, you know."

"A-Ah, Touma-kun!" He looked at the black haired girl, who was throwing up weird symbols and hand motions, apparently telling him to stop. He could only cock his head to the side as he turned back to the smaller girl.

"Fake, eh...?" She'd gained a dark aura around her and Touma's misfortune senses began tingling. "And calling me a child too..."

"A-Ah, Index-san. It was a joke, a joke!" He pleaded but to no avail. He immediately regretted what he'd said.

Only minutes after meeting her, Kamijou Touma learned that Index had a very sharp, and very dangerous, set of teeth. And that she wasn't afraid to use them on him.

Now nursing the wound(s?) on his arms, he glared at his fellow Level 0. "A warning would've been nice..." Ruiko put her hands up defensively.

"I tried! It was already too late by then!" She frowned and then bit her thumb. "It's weird, though. She only got really scary when I made fun of her name."

"Oh, so this Kamijou-san was a special occasion! That makes me feel so much better..." He sighed and looked at the nun, who sat on Ruiko's bed and looked away from the two of them. "Look, Index. I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have made fun of your name."

"Probably?" The aura was back, though not nearly as strong.

"A-Ah, definitely!" He nodded his head and she softened, now turning to face him.

"And I apologize for biting you." Her face turned a light shade of pink. "I don't know what came over me," she admitted sheepishly.

"Forget about it, water under the bridge. You're still hungry, right? We should head over to my dorm now." He stood up. "We can probably catch the bus."

"You're... still willing to feed me?"

"Of course. You're obviously in need, we'll talk about that later though." He smiled, and the nun felt her cheeks heat up even more.

"Jeez, Touma-kun... You never miss a beat, do you?" The female Level 0 said, almost absentmindedly. Touma raised an eyebrow at her phrase but she merely waved it off. "I told you, Index, if there's anyone who would help you, it'd be this guy." She smiled at the other girl, who merely nodded.

_/Scene:_

**Location: Judgment HQ**

Uiharu Kazari sat patiently among many other Judgment members, waiting for the meeting to properly start. She was a little restless, honestly, since she knew the subject and reason behind the gathering already. That and her search results from the previous day still did not sit well with her. She glanced around the room at the other members of Judgment, thinking about whether or not they knew it was connected with the Graviton Bombings or not.

"Hello, fellow Judgment Members." A woman stepped on stage. Her hair was near golden but her eyes were a dull, black. Kazari instantly recognized her as the head of Judgment, Minamoto Arianna. "As you are all aware of, the Graviton Bombings have not ceased in the past month. In fact, their frequency has increased."

Uiharu knew all that, she was more interested in hearing about what Kuroko told her over the phone earlier today.

"We had no clear idea of any motive or pattern until very recently, when one of our own noticed something very... disturbing about the chain of bombings. It has lead us to believe that the bomber is, in fact, targeting Judgment." Gasps and murmurs waved through the collection of Judgment members, Kazari ignored them. So it was true. She took a second to take that in, that someone had it out for the force dedicated to protecting people. The thought disturbed her, to say the least.

"That's not all, however." Thermal Hand's attention was grabbed again. "We have reason to believe that the rumor going around Academy City, Level Upper, is in fact true." She sounded a bit skeptical herself but nonetheless, it was the only thing that could possibly justify the bomber's strength. "Knowing this, it is unlikely that the Bank has adequate information and it is advised that you no longer rely on such systems until things are worked out."

"Level Upper... is real...?" She whispered, she heard similar sayings among her fellow Judgment as well. She also began to wonder where Shirai Kuroko was; they usually sat together during meetings like this but she was nowhere to be seen. "Saten-san..."

"For now, we shall discuss how we will be handling ourselves and the Graviton Bombings until we capture the culprit. I suggest that you all pay attention." She started before she began to lecture them.

**Location: School District 7; Kamijou Touma's Dorm**

_Index was certainly a foreigner_, Touma found himself chuckling. She'd been completely captivated by everything they saw, the lights, those bots that collected trash, everything. It was certainly more than cute.

Having to chase after a cleaning droid that had somehow managed to swipe the hat portion of her habit, however, was not.

But other than that, the trip from dorm to dorm was standard affair. They'd managed to catch a bus, Touma attributed it to the fact that he wasn't alone, and they'd made it there in record time. Tsuchimikado wasn't even around to bug him about taking two girls into his dorm, though Imagine Breaker was certain he'd find out later. The blonde had his ways.

Now working in his kitchen, Touma was happy for a couple reasons. One, he was happy that he'd managed to get his room presentable a few days prior. And seeing how rarely he was in his room this weekend, it helped keep the room looking decent. Two, he was happy that he went shopping the previous day. If what Ruiko had told him about the petite nun was true, he'd be making a _lot _of servings, though he did believe she was exaggerating a bit.

To his misfortune, she was not.

"That was incredible!" The nun smiled and rubbed her belly.

"I know, right? I can't believe the stuff he makes." Ruiko started to daydream. "And on a budget too? He's insane."

"You guys are overreacting." Touma rolled his eyes.

"You're just underestimating yourself again!" Ruiko countered. "You should be a chef."

"I don't have time for a job." Kamijou muttered, though he thought about how the added income would be welcome.

"What do you even do?"

"Huh?"

"You always say you're busy. What do you actually _do_?"

"Oh. Um. Well, homework takes up a lot of time..." He muttered and trailed off as he began to think about it himself. What did he do that consumed his time so much? He supposed a lot of time went into studying, okay not a lot but still. More often than not, however, he would end the day in the hospital. Either because he himself was injured or because he was taking someone else there. He made a mental note to thank that frog faced doctor next time he stopped by, which was sure to be sooner rather than later.

"That's a lame excuse." She crossed her arms. "You're not that much of an idiot."

"That much?"

"A-Ah, uh, Index!" She turned her attention to the foreigner. "I think it's time you explained why you're here." Touma let the topic drop, it wasn't going anywhere anyway. Index visibly shuffled uncomfortably as she thought about what she was going to say.

"To be honest, I didn't want to come to this city." She frowned.

"Then why'd you come?"

"...I was being pursued." She admitted, Touma raised an eyebrow.

"Pursued? Why?"

"Like I told you, my name is Index." She paused. "Like, an index for forbidden books. Grimoires. I possess 103,000 Grimoires. That is why I was being pursued." Ruiko and Touma exchanged looks that amounted to a tiny argument over who was going to ask '_what._'

Eventually, Touma won. "You don't... have books with you right now though." She sounded unsure of the question itself. Index nodded.

"I do. In here." She pointed to her head. "I was blessed with perfect memory. I remember everything I see."

"Okay then..." Touma's eyes narrowed. "Who's chasing after you?"

"A Magic Cabal, though I don't know which one."

"Magic Cabal...? Is that religious or something?"

"Are you making fun of me?"

"O-Of course not. Continue, continue."

"Right. I'm unsure what Magic Cabal it is but they have powerful Magicians with them." She took off the top portion of her habit and played with it with her fingers. "I don't really stand a chance against them."

"Magicians...?" Unnerved a bit, Ruiko felt completely confused. She turned her head to Touma, who looked to be in a similar state and yet... different. He still had _that look _in his eyes, the one she could never really explain. It was that look he got when he was prepared to dive head long into something.

"Oh. I forgot none of you are really religious here. What do you two know about magic?" She eventually muttered and noted the blank looks on both their faces. "Right, I thought so." She stood up. "Thank you for your kindness but I really think I need to go." She started to make her way towards the door but only gasped as she felt someone grab her hand and stop her.

"Hold on." She turned around to face Imagine Breaker. "Where will you go?"

"I don't know." She admitted right off the bat. If she could make it to a Church, an Anglican Church, she might find shelter but... she had no idea where the nearest one was, if there even was one in this city. "I haven't been found in a while so I can assume that they haven't entered Academy City, I might've finally lost them."

"But you don't know for sure?"

"Correct."

"Then what if you're wrong and they're waiting for you outside?" Index's face slightly paled, the thought having not occurred to her.

"I'll run like I always have."

"That's not going to cut it."

"But you two are completely innocent in this, it wouldn't be right to get you involved, especially not after you showed me nothing but kindness." Touma frowned.

"You can't honestly expect me to leave you alone after you just told us you were being pursued." He muttered, barely loud enough for the two others in the room to hear. "I don't know about Grimoires or Magic but I am certain that you need help." Index just stared at him, right into his eyes. He was serious. She blinked back tears as she stared at him again.

"Then... would you accompany me to the depths of Hell?" Touma frowned at the look she gave as she said it. It was the look of someone who accepted that there was no way but the bad way, who had given up on truly being free of whatever torment they had. Touma knew that look well. Index, on the other hand, took his frown as a 'no' and began to pull her hand out of his grasp but he only held on tighter.

"What kind of idiot would accompany a stranger he just met to Hell?" He asked, unceremoniously.

"T-Touma-kun-!" Ruiko began.

"It's not necessary either. If it comes down to it, I'll just drag you out." He finished. And Index just stared at him, again, noting that he was serious. She tried to blink back the tears, then wipe them with her free arm, but neither worked. Looking at him for a few seconds more, she threw herself at Imagine Breaker, sobbing into his chest. A bit surprised, his eyes widened before he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry it out. He could only assume how alone she had been before this. And it made him sick that no one ever offered to help her before. He'd do more than offer, though, he would help her. But for now, he just stood there with the nun in his arms. He felt a little awkward, to be perfectly honest, especially because Ruiko was just watching. She hadn't said a word since Index had started crying, actually. He wondered what was going through her head. Perhaps-

_RIP!_

"AH!" Index screamed as Touma felt something different. No longer did he feel the smooth cloth of a nun's habit. Instead, he felt... skin? He looked down and instantly regretted it.

Index was naked.

"Why are you looking at me!?" She screamed and before he could even mutter a sorry, _CHOMP!_

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Green Mart**

Shirai Kuroko teleported next to the ruins of the convenience store with a sigh and a scowl. She made sure her Judgment armband was secured properly before going through the entrance that was once a door. She held out a device and walked around the ruins of the shop, noting how it seemed to constantly go off. With a sigh, she placed the device down on the ground and tapped her Bluetooth.

"Konori-sama, I've got it set up." She waited for a response, then looked down at the small, black device. "So we were too late." She cursed under her breath and picked the item back up, turning it off.

"Is the Judgment meeting over yet?" She questioned and frowned at her answer. She wouldn't be getting her partner back for a long while.

"Understood. I'm coming back to the office." And with that, she'd disappeared.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Seventh Mist**

Touma was not one for shopping, which is why it was weird that this was the second day in a row that he'd been inside the biggest shopping center in District 7. While yesterday, he had been there for fun (it was a _very _loose definition of the word), today he was there for _business._

To be precise, he was there to buy woman's clothing.

The nun had bitten him for a whole two minutes before Ruiko managed to pull her off, and subsequently get her to his bathroom. She absolutely refused to come out afterwards and Ruiko basically kicked him out of his own dorm, telling him to come back with clothes for her. He understood why Ruiko couldn't go, there was no way she'd leave him alone with a naked girl, but he didn't understand why he had to go buy _new _clothes. Surely, Ruiko had extra clothes, right?

Maybe he was thinking with his wallet again, he figured. There were more important things to think about anyway. Like, for instance, how exactly did his right hand shred her habit? Was her story of Magic perhaps true? He knew Imagine Breaker negated Esper powers, and his own luck, so it would obviously do the same for Magic, should it exist. So unless her clothes were literally made from scratch by an Esper power, and he knew not a single one that would allow one to do so, there was truth to her story.

_Just great, _he thought sarcastically.

He sighed as he stood outside a rather empty shop, the less women inside the better, and entered it. He tried his best to ignore the stares that were sent his way as best as he could and eventually, people ignored him. Perhaps they assumed that he was getting clothes for his girlfriend, or perhaps just a present for a girl in general? He couldn't care less at this point. Having collected all the easy items, and hoping with all his might that the sizes were close enough to fit, he gulped at what came next.

The nun was lacking in the chest department, he could feel her teeth sinking into his flesh if she'd heard him say that out loud, but that still left the _other _undergarment. Arguably, the worst undergarment. Or the best, depends on how you look at it.

Touma shook his head, realizing that he was getting side tracked and that he should really just get this over with. But he also had to be careful, he realized as his misfortune senses screamed at him. If he got chased out of the store then not only would he never be allowed to show his face here again, though whether or not he'd actually need to come back to this particular shop was yet to be known, he would also have to start from scratch at a new store.

Using his 'expert' stealth skills, he walked around the store floor, taking glances at... 'the item' whenever he could.

_There!_

He spotted the perfect, white pair. He took a second to shake the obviously dirty thoughts from his head, and another to make sure no one was paying attention to him, before he dashed past and picked them up. He was equally quick in hiding them behind the other clothes he'd picked out. With a sigh, he looked at the ceiling and smiled.

"_Misfortune avoided!_" He wanted to scream but simply yelling it in his head was good enough. But then, a sudden sense of foreboding gathered upon him and he had no idea why. He scanned the store, eyeing everyone suspiciously until he noticed the female clerk waiting behind the counter of the check out line. He realized that he wasn't out of the woods yet. He still had to buy them! As he walked into line, and waited for his turn, his brain was wracked with possible excuses as to why he was buying 'the item.'

"Hello, sir." The cashier smiled at him, knocking Touma from his thoughts. He'd drawn a blank and decided that he wouldn't mention them if she didn't.

"Uh. Hey." He placed the clothes and the counter and watched as she raised an eyebrow at them.

"Buying clothes for a friend?"

"Ah, uh, my sister actually." He rubbed the back of his head. "I still don't know how she talked me into this." He chuckled. _So far so good._

"Huh? Well, I don't know about you but I'd never let my brother pick out my panties." She said with a chuckle as Touma's face nearly began to boil.

"T-That's what I said but s-she insisted."

"Mhm, sure. Now I won't ask why you're buying these, that's your business and all that, but perhaps you should be more discreet next time?"

He could never come to this store again.

"_There won't be a next time!_" He wanted to scream but instead, he just nodded and accepted the bag once she was done. With the food he'd given to the nun earlier today, and the money he spent on clothes, he prepped his stomach for a few missed meals until his next allowance check.

"Oh, right. One more thing!" She reached underneath the counter and pulled out a small object, a key chain. It was a weird, green frog mascot. Gekota, if Touma's memory was correct. "We're giving these away to customers today. You actually got the last one." Touma grabbed the key chain from the clerk and blinked. Last one? That sounded lucky and if there was one thing that was set in stone about Kamijou Touma, it was that he was never lucky. It's too bad he was too caught up in other things to realize this.

"_I guess Index'll like this? Maybe Ruiko, she likes cute things right?_" He thought to himself as he stepped out of line. "_Then again, I wouldn't really call this thing cut-_" He was cut off as he fell face first into the ground. "Ow!" He rolled onto his butt as he gripped his face, turning to see just what he'd tripped on. Or rather, who.

"I can't believe I was too late..." A familiar brown haired girl rested on the floor on all fours. As opposed to the usual air of confidence around her, she seemed to be... depressed, maybe even vulnerable. Her miserable chanting of 'I was too late' didn't help either.

"Ah, uh, Biri Biri...?" He stared at her, speechless, as she registered his voice.

"You! You took the last one!" Sparks began to form in her hair and Touma quickly raised his right hand up in anticipation. He waited for the eventual sound of glass shattered that accompanied Imagine Breaker's activation but heard no such thing. "Are you just going to sit there, scared?" He moved his hand from his face and looked up at Mikoto's outstretched hand. "Come on. I thought we agreed no fighting in public."

Still a little skeptic, he slowly reached for her hand. She helped pull him up and sighed.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Forget something yesterday?" He raised an eyebrow then remembered her depressed state from before. "Or maybe..." He held up the key chain. "You wanted this?"

"O-Of course not!" She was quick to cross her arms, a little too quick, and the blush on her face all but confirmed Touma's suspicions.

"You can have it if you want." He tossed it at her and she snatched it out of the air, a look of pure bliss evident on her face.

"No way, I can't thank you enough for this!" She admired the child's key chain and Touma couldn't help but chuckle.

"Don't worry about it. Just, uh, don't tell anyone you saw me today." Her attention snapped back to him as she pocketed the newest addition to her Gekota Collection.

"Ah, worried about damaging your reputation or something?"

"Something like that..." He admitted as he scratched the back of his head and placed his bag behind his back. Absolutely no good would come from her seeing it. "So see you around, Biri Biri." He turned around with a wave.

"Hold it!"

"Eh?" He whipped back around.

"Misaka." She crossed her arms. "If this whole friend thing is going to work, you're going to call me by my actual name."

"Right." He nodded. "Kamijou Touma. Pleasure to meet you, Misaka."

"Don't think you'll get off without using some honorifics."

"_Seriously? _Fine, Misaka-_san_. Is that better?" He tried his best to not sound sarcastic but still ended up rolling his eyes at her happy face.

"Perfect." She walked past him. "Goodbye, Kamijou-san."

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Kamijou Touma's Dorm**

"How much longer is he going to be?" Index asked for, perhaps, the hundredth time from Touma's bathroom.

"Soon. I promise." Ruiko sighed, tired of the question. "Before you ask again, how about you tell me why your clothes exploded."

"I don't know!" She yelled. "My Walking Church's protection is Pope-class!"

"Pope-class?"

"It's... really strong." She replied, a bit sheepish as she recalled that Ruiko was completely unfamiliar with magical terms.

"Maybe it's because of Imagine Breaker." The Level 0 wondered aloud.

"Imagine Breaker?"

"It's the ability Touma-kun has in his right hand. It negates the supernatural."

"Impossible! I've never heard of something like that, not even within my Grimoires..." She trailed off.

"I've seen him use it against Espers before, at least." She scratched her head. "I don't know about Magic or anything." Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Hey, Index?"

"Yes?"

"Could I learn Magic?" As a Level 0, she didn't have an ability that she could use, not even a little bit.

"I'm afraid not. Those who are talented can not use Magic."

"But... I'm not talented." Though it pained her to admit.

"But you're still an Esper, right?" Index waited for a response. She eventually took her silence as a 'yes.' "Espers are too different from a normal person, if they attempted to use Magic then they would die."

"Die... I see..." Ruiko let out a deep breath. Then, a knock at the door attracted her attention. "That must be him, let me go see." Getting up, she walked over to the door and opened it for it's actual resident.

"Here." He shoved the bag of clothes into her hands and walked past her, immediately going into the kitchen and grabbed a can of tea. "That was so much more trouble then it was worth."

"Things didn't go too badly, did they?" Ruiko chuckled as she handed the bag to Index, who shut the bathroom door quickly.

"No. There were a lot of close calls though." He paused as the weight of what _could've _happened played in his mind. "Actually, today wasn't so bad." He smiled.

"Ah, finished!" Index declared as she threw open the bathroom door, emerging in a dark blue shirt and blacks jeans.

"That's pretty plain, don't you think?" Ruiko turned his head to the misfortunate boy as he took another sip of tea.

"Sure. I was just more focused on not dying as opposed to how fashionable what I was picking out was."

"I thought you said it wasn't that bad?"

"That does not mean it was good." He glared at her. "It just means it was better than my usual luck. Which isn't saying much." He sighed.

"Right. Well, Index, do you like it at least?" The silver haired girl nodded.

"It is very nice, though not as comfortable as my Walking Church." She smiled at Touma. "Thank you... um, oh dear..."

"Kamijou Touma." He finished for her. "I guess I forgot to introduce myself before."

"Touma..." She whispered. "Thank you, Touma." Touma smiled back. "Though..."

"Is something wrong?" Ruiko raised an eyebrow.

"Um..." She began to blush. "You see..." Touma's face paled as a sense of foreboding overtook him, it was far thicker than it had been in... had it ever been this bad before!?

"Don't tell me..."

"My underwear... They're... um, kinda tight."

"Such misfortune!" Touma yelled as he tossed his can in the trash and immediately walked to the door. "I'll be back in half an hour. If I don't come back, well, tell people to remember this poor Kamijou-san." He muttered before he closed the door behind him.

"Wait, Touma-kun!" Ruiko started but it was too late. "I could've gone..."

* * *

_Author's Note: This chapter properly introduces Index! Now, I know a lot of people dislike her but I'm not one of those guys. I _do, _however, understand the reasons behind it. Which is why I'll be seeking to correct a couple of those things._

_Admittedly, I was on the fence about keeping her biting in but I eventually caved, though I hope to make it a lot more restrained then in the main series. Also, yes, Index won't constantly be in her nun's habit. This was something that I wanted to do from the beginning and I'm interested in hearing about your guy's opinions on it._


	4. GRAVITON

_Author's Note: The first fight scene of the story should be showing up in this chapter so be sure to tell me what you think about it, as well as what I can improve on! Though, to be honest, it's not much of a fight… ^^;_

_As I've mentioned before, I've only seen the anime and I'm currently working my way through the Light Novels. The differences are actually kinda surprising, though the toned down deaths are something I suspected were anime exclusive. Eventually, I'll be reading the Railgun manga too, specifically for the Da__ihaseisai__ Arc since the rest has been adapted into the anime, which I've seen. I know the bare basics of what happens but that won't exactly fly, you know?_

_Back on the topic of the Light Novels, I'm on number 8 as of before I'm writing this chapter. The explanations, especially for magic, are a lot easier to, um, comprehend when I can reread them easily. Also a lot easier to find for references sake. Anyways, I'm really enjoying them!_

_damienus1019: Thank you! I have a surprise or two in mind for this arc, aside from the more obvious changes. For example, of course Touma's going to take part in the AIM Burst fight. He's practically _made_ for that fight. I'm not sure what it is about this story, or maybe it's Raildex in general, that makes me want to update so much. It's very weird and clashes with my normal style. Though I'm not complaining!_

_FoxOnPie: Aw yes, I have found another!_

_Agent Nine: Thanks! Also thanks for the feedback. _

Chapter 4: Time Moves On

_/Scene:_ Opening Phase: 「Daze」

**Location: School District 7; Kamijou Touma's Dorm**

**Date: June 18****th**

"_Too many days have ended in events like this..._" Kamijou Touma thought bitterly as he sat on his floor, an ice pack against his right eye. At least that frog faced doctor said it wouldn't swell or anything, not since he put that cream on it.

"Is that one still alright or do you need another one?" One of the other occupants in the room, Saten Ruiko, asked him with said other ice pack in hand.

"No, no. Put it back with the other ones." He gestured to his refrigerator with a sigh. With a shrug, she got up and went to do so.

"Why do you have so many of these things anyway?" She asked as he closed the freezer. "No wait, let me guess. This kind of thing happens a lot?"

"Bingo." Giving a depressed sigh, he turned his attention to the third occupant. "Are those at least comfortable?" The foreign nun nodded and he smiled. "Well, that's something."

"It's your hand."

"Huh?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Your hand. Ruiko told me about it." Index explained. "I think... maybe it negates God's miracles, like luck. It's crazy to think that something like that exists but…"

"I figured." He muttered under his breath. It was true that it was something that he always told anyone who asked him about his rotten luck but it _did _seem a little farfetched.

"I dunno. I think it's pretty lucky that you didn't get banned from Seventh Mist in general." Ruiko plopped down next to him. "They didn't even call security."

"I would've _preferred _security. That guy had a heck of a left hook." He groaned, remembering how the cashier, recognizing him as the same guy who brought a pair of panties not an hour before hand, had assumed the worst and proceeded to tell him off. To make matters worse, some random guy saw the scene, assumed Touma was annoying the female and proceeded to pick a fight with him. It wasn't pretty.

"I still can't believe you had to take him to a hospital. When'd you get so good at fighting?"

For the other guy anyway. Kamijou shrugged.

"You pick things up." He neglected to mention that he got into his fair share of fights, be it due to misunderstandings or during one of his 'heroic' deeds. That being said, the other man's injuries had been purely accidental. Kamijou had been sure that he would be able to settle the conflict peacefully.

"Well, it's getting kinda late," Saten stood up and gestured to the clock. Taking into account his two trips to Seventh Mist, his journey to the hospital, and the time he spent giving a report to Anti-Skill describing the incident, Touma had really lost track of time. "I should get going."

"Yeah, probably." She walked over to the door and let herself out, waving to the two of them as she did so. Wait, _two _of them? "Wait, Ruiko! You forgot Index!" He nearly yelled as he burst open his door.

"Huh? Wow, really? After that whole heartfelt speech, I thought you were going to house her." She raised an eyebrow and Touma stumbled for words.

"But I've got tons of homework to do!"

"So do I."

"I- Well, come on, I'm a guy. That's not..."

"Ah, I trust you not to do anything. You're a good guy." Touma had enough sense not to argue with that. "That's assuming the little incident earlier today was an accident though."

"O-Of course it was! How dare you accuse this Kamijou-san of being perverted enough to strip a crying girl down, or any girl for that matter!" He paused and realized he should probably lower his voice.

"Thought so." She giggled. "Well, see you, Touma-kun~!" With that, she turned down the corner towards the elevator and Touma evidently lost. With a sigh, he closed the door and looked at Index.

"You can take the bed. I've got some more sheets around here somewhere, though it's kinda hot so I doubt I'll need them."

"I-I couldn't! You're already giving me a place to stay..."

"Forget about it." He waved her off. "This floor's not so bad anyway, not the worst place I've ever slept..."

"I refuse." Kamijou frowned.

"We'll figure it out later then, I guess." He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "I'm going to do some homework so you can watch TV or something, just don't turn it up too loud."

"Okay."

"Actually, just try not to make loud noises in general; I will not hear the end of it if Tsuchimikado hears you and figures out I have a girl in my room." He sighed at the thought. He'd certainly tell Aogami and while they were both bugging him about it, Fukiyose would overhear and then... Well, he preferred to not think about that. Index merely nodded; Touma scratched his head again, "_this is really awkward..._"

**Two hours later**

With a yawn, Touma finished the last question. Dropping his pencil, and then his head, against the table, he gave a sigh of relief.

"It's over!" He smiled. He turned his head towards his television, towards his new roommate, and noted that she'd passed out. His smile gradually shrunk, though it was still there, and he walked over and picked her up. He sat her on the futon, ruling that since she was asleep, she didn't have a choice in the matter of where she slept. Next, he turned off the TV, it was playing some weird Magical Girl show, and then the lights before he flopped down on the floor.

"_This weekend was something else..._" He mumbled in his head before he closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him.

_And suddenly, he opened his eyes again. He sniffed the air and couldn't help but notice an unfamiliar odor, no not unfamiliar. He definitely knew _what _it was. Or did he? He couldn't remember._

"_Ey, kid." A voice called out to him and Kamijou turned his head, stepping back in shock at how tall the man was. Or was he just short? "You Kamijou, eh?" He nodded his head._

"_Who are you?"_

"_Don't matter." The man shrugged and held out his hand, the odor grew thicker. "I just gotta end you." Touma quickly put his hand over his mouth and immediately, the air around it grew fresher. He hadn't notice before but the sound of shattering glass had been a near constant since... he'd opened his eyes? _

"_Stop."_

"_They warned me 'bout that hand." He muttered and made his way to the small boy. "Said my 'bility won't work." The man kicked the boy down, putting his foot on his chest to keep him there. "I, a Level 3, would be useless next to a single little boy. Crazy, eh?" He chuckled as he pushed down on Touma's chest. Kamijou grabbed his foot with his hands, trying to get him to stop and the man frowned as he realized he could no longer produce his gas._

"_Please, stop."_

"_Nah." Pulling a knife out of his pocket, he glared at the small boy. "Job's a job, you know? It'd have been easier if you'd went to sleep like the rest of 'em brats." He jammed the knife down into Touma's right shoulder, the boy screamed. "Go 'head and yell all you want. My gas won't let 'em wake up for a _long _while." He laughed as he moved it around. "Should've brought a bigger knife. Damn."_

"_Please..." Tears in his eyes, Touma begged. Not solely because of the pain, though it played a big part, but something just felt wrong suddenly. The second the man had plugged the knife into his shoulder, Kamijou felt something change. He felt something bad._

_And then there was a roar and flames consumed his vision._

He opened his eyes again, this time for real, and sighed as he realized it was just a memory. It had been a while since he had last dreamed this nightmare, so he supposed he was grateful for that. He took a deep breath and, on instinct, tried to raise his right hand to take a look at it but frowned when he noticed that he couldn't. He was curious when he noticed that there was extra heat around him. And then he panicked when he noticed that there was extra weight around him, on him even. Adjusting his head so he could see his chest, and froze when he saw Index's arm across it.

"_No no no no._" But alas, it was true. Sometime in the middle of his disturbing dream, Index had gotten out of bed and snuggled up next to him. He tried to pull his arm from under her but she just growled and tightened her grip. He tried again but immediately stopped when she sobbed, as opposed to her growl from before. She gripped him further, pushing her face into his side as he could feel a growing wetness. He cursed internally as he stopped and laid flat, with Index calming down in response. He strained his mind to think of the school day tomorrow; what misfortunes he would encounter; what he would have for lunch tomorrow; which Level 5 would try to kill him next; _anything _other than what was happening right now. Eventually, he somehow found it in himself to go back to sleep.

_/Scene:_

**Date: June 19****th**

_Beep beep beep!_

Kamijou Touma woke up, alone and on the floor. While he was relieved that Index was no longer there, he was also annoyed beyond belief because he _hated _that alarm. But, he supposed, that made it do its job better. He sat up and took in a couple things despite his tired state. One, the nun had moved from her position the night before and now sat back by the television, that Magical Girl show playing yet again. Two, the blanket from his bed had somehow found its way onto him in the middle of the night, he suspected the nun. Three, it was Monday. Groaning internally, he shut off his alarm; put on a smile and turned to Index.

"Morning." She jumped a bit, too taken into the show to have noticed him waking up, and turned to him.

"Good morning."

"Uh, sleep well?" She quickly turned her head back around and nodded. Taking that as a cue to never bring up tonight again, Touma got up and stretched. "I'm about to make breakfast, then I have to go to school." He did so, with both of them being silent. The silence persisted throughout breakfast.

After breakfast, he laid a map of District 7 on the table. "Okay, here's where we are." He marked the approximate location of his dormitory on the map with a marker. "And here's my school." He traced along a path until it reached around where his school would be. "If you need me, just follow the route."

"Understood."

"Whoa, no need to sound so professional or anything…" He laughed, perhaps this would lower the tension.

"Erm…sorry." She mumbled out an apology.

"It's fine. I think you just need to loosen up a bit, you know?" Though he wondered if she was capable of doing so.

"I'll try." Was her only response. With a sigh, he continued.

"I made some lunch in advance when I made breakfast. Just pop it in the microwave."

"Microwave…?" Kamijou wanted to think she was joking but the genuine curiosity, and the cute way she tilted her head, told him otherwise.

"It's the little white box in the kitchen." He explained. "Just put the plate inside and set it to one minute. That's 1, 0, 0. Not just 1 or 1, 0. It'll heat up the food."

"Ah, I see. So science has reached this level… Amazing…" Touma couldn't help but chuckle.

"If you need to leave, don't lock the door since you'll be locked out. I'll try and get you a spare key soon." She nodded.

"And if anyone speaks to you, don't tell them about Magic or anything crazy like that."

"Crazy? You still don't think Magic is real?"

"Well, um. I don't have any proof so-"

"If magic wasn't real then why did my Walking Church get shredded?" She looked as if she'd bite him again just for recalling the memory and Kamijou threw his hands up, caught in the painful flashback.

"I admit that I don't know how to explain that right now, Index-san." He quickly said. "So Magic is real! But still, it's not fit for Academy City and it's likely to get you detained and possibly deported." She understood that, at least, and her anger faded. Touma took a breath of relief.

"Uh. Let's see… what else is there…?" He brought his hand to his chin. "I think that's all. You got all that?"

"Perfect memory." She reminded him.

"Oh, right, right. Excuse me." Kamijou made a mental note to test that later; it could be useful. "Now I really should be going. I'd hate to be late again." Index nodded.

"See you later then." With a nod, Touma picked up his bag and left the dorm.

_/Scene:_

**Location: A Certain High School**

"Kami-yan~!" Touma was immediately greeted by Tsuchimikado when he walked into the room. He was surprised that he arrived earlier than him, usually the three of them would barely make it before class began. "I heard you were incredibly busy this weekend." The grin he had on his face sent chills down Touma's spine. He noted that a couple of the other students inside the room cast a glance in his direction, seemingly out of fear (?).

"W-Whatever do you mean?"

"I'm talking about the fight yesterday, at Seventh Mist." His grin widened; though Kamijou felt a small hint of relief that of all the things that'd happened during the weekend, he'd found out about that.

"Huh?" That didn't stop him from playing dumb as long as possible though.

"Don't lie, man. The video's all over the internet."

"It is!?" That was news to him.

"You haven't seen it?" His eyes feigned surprise, not that you could see behind his blue glasses. "Yo, Aogami! Get out your phone." He dragged the spiky haired boy over to the three seats they sat at. There, Kamijou found the third member of what can be considered a friend group. Around the class, and perhaps even the whole school, they were known as the Delta Force. Or the Three Idiots depending on the circumstances. "He hasn't seen the video."

"You're kidding! It's basically the talk of the school." Aogami gave a similar grin to Motoharu's, Touma rubbed his forehead. He quickly pulled out his phone and, after tapping the screen a few times, brought up a video which showed Touma and a rather muscular, older guy inside a store in Seventh Mist.

"You downloaded it!?"

"Shush." Tsuchimikado quieted him as the video played, showing the guy punching Kamijou and forcing him onto the ground. The crowd cheered before, well, Touma fought back. If it can even be called that. Touma simply rolled him over and got back to his feet, nursing his now injured eye. The older man looked furious and went swinging, though the Level 0 just dodged around until Touma grabbed his arm and flipped him over. Unfortunately, he didn't pay attention to their position and threw him down a flight of stairs. Just before the video cut off, you could see Touma grab his head and scream "such misfortune!" all but confirming that it was Kamijou who was caught on film. "It's a classic." Touma groaned.

"What'd you do anyway?"

"I-I don't want to talk about it." He avoided eye contact and sat down in his seat.

"What? Did you insult him?"

"Nah, Kami-yan's not like that."

"That's true…"

"I bet he seduced his girlfriend or something."

"The Kami-yan disease does know no mercy!" Touma internally groaned at the mention of the 'Kami-yan disease.' Somehow, the two had gotten it in their heads that Kamijou was apparently a god at meeting and raising girl's flags. Hell, the idea even began spreading throughout the class, and he's sworn he's heard out it in the hallways too so it might not be restricted to his class anymore. But that was ridiculous, right?

"I would've picked a fight with him too." Aogami shrugged. "Kami-yan doesn't actually look that tough." Touma rolled his eyes and looked out the window, trying his best to ignore their conversation. It wasn't working but they both stopped speaking several minutes later anyway.

"Guys?" He faced them again and immediately regretted it. "F-Fukiyose-sama!"

"Don't you 'Fukiyose-sama' me, Kamijou." Her tone told him the whole story. She'd seen the video. "Explanation. Now."

"W-Well, you see, it was all a misunderstanding!" He brought his hands up defensively. "I-I was merely buying something and he thought I was harassing the cashier..."

"Were you harassing the cashier?"

"N-No! Of course not."

"Then why'd he think you were?" She noticed the sweat building up on Touma's face, he was avoiding something.

"She was yelling at me…"

"What could you have possibly been buying that caused that reaction?" Touma froze, his mind going into overdrive to think of an answer that wouldn't get him abused, both verbally and possibly physically.

In the end, his mind broke and he stumbled out the honest answer. "...Panties..."

"_Kami-yan!_" Both Aogami and Tsuchimikado cried out but it was too late. The attack had already begun.

_/Scene:_

Luckily, Komoe-sensei entered the room soon after Fukiyose's attack began and managed to settle everyone down, though she did request that Kamijou stay after school. He figured it was to discuss what happened in the video, the news had already picked up around the school apparently so he figured she knew, but he was alright with it since he was going to stay behind regardless.

"Putting that aside, I'd like to collect the assignment that I gave over the weekend. Please pass it up to the front."

"Ah, I bet Kami-yan didn't do it, as usual." Tsuchimikado snickered as he turned back at his classmate.

"He'll get two lectures from Komoe-chan today. That's not fair!" Aogami moaned while Kamijou sighed and reached into his things, only for his face to darken.

"Wait, where is it…?" He mumbled.

"Don't pretend like you did it just because we're teasing~," Aogami was quick to respond.

"No, I actually _did _do it!" Kamijou yelled back.

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't do it either." Tsuchimikado grinned. Touma rolled his eyes as he checked his things more thoroughly and realized, with a whimper, that his homework wasn't there. Life was too cruel.

"Such misfor-!" He only got part way through his catchphrase before someone knocked on the door.

"Ah, who is it?" The petite teacher turned her head towards the door.

"I'm here to see Tou~ma~!" Came a familiar voice that not only caused Kamijou to freeze, but caused every male student to turn towards him with a dark expression on their faces. The voice was obviously feminine, and very sweet sounding at that. Komoe paused for but a moment before she gave permission for Index to enter. The silver-haired, cute petite foreign girl entered the room and Touma felt the dark looks intensify as she skipped over to him.

"_Skipping!? There's no way the reserved girl would skip so merrily! Is she the type of character who acts completely different and carefree in public places!?_"

"I-Index, what are you doing here?" He muttered.

"You left this." She held up a packet of papers, his homework. "You worked all night to do it so I thought it was important." Kamijou blinked before he accepted the packet.

"Wow, thanks." She nodded excitedly before walking back through the door.

"Kamijou-chan, who was that?" Tsukuyomi asked him afterwards, once she had collected his assignment.

"Ah… Would you believe me if I said it was my sister?" He nervously laughed. No one was amused.

_/Scene:_

School officially ended about ten minutes ago, the only ones still there were the teachers who had work to do and those with extracurricular activities. And Kamijou Touma. He sat in his homeroom with Tsukuyomi Komoe, who was giving him a very stern talk about how to avoid fights and how getting into brawls like that would not only damage the reputation of the school but also himself, though Touma was quick to note that he explained the whole situation to Anti-Skill and it wouldn't affect his record in any way.

"Ah! Disregarding that, what if someone really important saw that and decided that they'd never let you work under them! You're grades are already not the best, you need to think about all your options!" Touma groaned since he'd obviously heard this type of lecture before. "Don't groan at me, I'm seriously worried about you, Kamijou-chan."

"I'm sorry, Sensei." He apologized first. "But I don't think it's as big of a deal as you make it out to be." With a sigh, Komoe dropped the subject.

"Okay… But what about that girl that came to class today?" She put her hands on her hips. "Just who was she?"

"A-Ah, didn't I tell you she was my sister?"

"Kamijou! She was a pale skinned, silver haired foreigner with blue eyes!" She yelled, Touma recoiled on instinct. "How could you just openly lie like that!?"

"Sorry, sorry. She's just someone I'll be looking after for a while."

"Oh, taking in runaway girls, are you?" She smiled. "You wouldn't happen to be taking after Sensei, would you?" Then, suddenly, her smile dropped into a frown. "Wait a minute, you live in a men's dormitory! You're not allowed to have a girl live with you there! And that's not right anyway!"

"Calm down, calm down. It's only for a while then she'll be staying with a female friend of mine, and then she'll be leaving Academy City." Though he was completely unsure of that, it was more likely that it wouldn't be the result actually, he used that excuse and waved his hands down to try and placate her but it didn't seem to be working. "Please, Sensei, I actually had something important to talk about!"

"Important…? Okay but this conversation isn't over!" Kamijou reluctantly nodded.

"I had that dream again last night…" He eventually muttered and Komoe gasped.

"So suddenly and out of the blue… And you were doing so well."

"It wasn't really out of the blue though. I met up with one of the other people who lived with me there." Touma explained. Komoe nodded, knowingly.

"Yes, that could've caused the memories to resurface…"

"It's… a little bit more than that, Sensei…"

"Oh?" She responded with a hint of worry.

"It was Ruiko…"

"The one you were…"

"Trying to avoid, yeah." He finished for her, not wanting to let it be said by anyone other than himself. "And I don't feel right doing it again."

"I see. Jeez, Kamijou-chan. I'm not a psychiatrist, I don't really know what to say." Although she was joking, she also looked both worried and sad.

"Ah, you know me, Sensei. I won't talk to anyone I don't fully trust so I doubt I'd go to an actual psychiatrist or something." He rubbed the back of his neck innocently and didn't even notice Komoe-sensei blush.

"D-Don't say things like that. It'll give a girl the wrong impression."

"Eh?"

"Nothing." She clapped. "I think you've got the situation all together though, Kamijou-chan. You know why you had the nightmare and I think you'll be able to overcome it just like before! If you don't want to push away Ruiko-san then all you have to do is accept your past mistakes and correct them." She smiled again. "Actually, with all that in mind, I'm surprised you managed to do your homework."

"Yeah, well, I made sure I had the time to do it." He lied with a smile on his face.

"Kamijou… What did I just say about lying?" Though she was smiling, there was somehow malice in her words.

"A-Ah! I'm sorry! I waited until the very last night, last minute, to do it but you know how my misfortune is!" Frantically rubbing his hands through his hair, Touma continued. "It's too much, too much. This Kamijou-san just can't stand all his time being sapped away by these events!"

"You finished it and I suppose that's all that matters." Komoe allowed herself to comfort him a bit. "But do try and finish it before those 'events' happen next time." Touma bowed.

"Yes, of course, thank you for your kindness!" As he brought his head up, he took a glance at the clock. "Ah, I should be going now. Thanks for talking with me, Sensei."

"Anytime, Kamijou-chan!" Touma smiled as he grabbed his bag, stood up and left the classroom.

_/Scene:_

Walking home, he typically preferred to walk since Kamijou liked to enjoy the fresh air and it wasn't too hot today, he hummed a little tune that had been stuck in his head the past few days. The streets were bustling with students who had also just gotten out of school and probably meeting up with their friends for various activities. As for Touma, he had no intention of doing anything other than returning home and checking to see if Index was okay.

So of course something had to prevent him from doing so.

"Hey, you, idiot!" He immediately stopped and turned around, facing Tokiwadai's Ace.

"We seem to keep bumping into each other. Are you stalking me?" He said, completely straight faced. Mikoto grew red, whether it was out of embarrassment or rage, he'd never know.

"How could you accuse me of something like that!? I just happened to be walking through here and spotted you…"

"Right. Well, later Biri Biri." He waved at her and tried to walk away.

"Hey, I thought we agreed you wouldn't call me that anymore!"

"Oh right, sorry, Misaka." He turned his head to her again. "Was there actually anything you needed me for or were you just lonely?"

"Oh well…" She thought about it for a moment. "Oh!" She slammed her fist into her open palm in realization. "If we're going to do this whole friends thing, I was thinking that I should probably have your number."

"Eh?"

"Well, we seem to share friends. If you need help, a Level 5 would be a good person to have on your side, don't you think? And…"

"Ah!" He interrupted her so he could think about it in peace. The thought of getting nothing but texts from Mikoto saying "fight me!" briefly went through his mind and it was not a pleasant daydream. Not just because that was annoying, but he didn't have an unlimited text plan! "Well, uh, you see…"

"Don't even try and get out of it." She sighed. "Look, I'm not going to hound you for fights. I promised myself I wouldn't do that anymore."

"Wow, did you now?" He thought about it for another moment. "…Fine. I'm not going to be getting out of this anyway." They exchanged numbers.

"There, now was that so bad?" She remarked, teasingly, while she waved her phone around.

"Is your phone a frog?" Kamijou pointed out in response, Misaka instantly went stiff.

"I-It's not like I picked it out or anything. T-They only had these in stock at the store I went to." She muttered out. Touma didn't believe her for a second but he didn't want to tempt his luck.

"Right. Well, if that's all-"

"A-Actually!" She paused, as if trying to find the right words. "Kuroko's been really busy with Judgment work and, well…" She quickly said, blushing the whole time and looking down. Through her blush, however, she had a very strange face; a face Touma knew well. It was the face of loneliness.

"Why didn't you just say so?" She looked up and met Touma's smile, only causing her blush to deepen. "Come on, we'll walk and talk." He started walking home again with Mikoto following behind, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn't put it into words. "So how did you and Ruiko meet?" Touma eventually said, deciding to help her out.

"Oh. Kuroko and Uiharu-san introduced us. Well, technically, Kuroko introduced me to them both… Anyway, we ended up stopping a robbery together."

"W-Whoa, that's a big part of the story to skip!" Touma yelled, forgetting that he would've known the whole story if he'd listened to Saten and Uiharu tell him during the weekend. Mikoto shrugged.

"Well, really, we just went out and did friend things, I guess." She seemed unsure of herself but pressed on. "What about you?"

"Ruiko and I met a long time ago, in an orphanage in Academy City."

"A-Ah, I see. You probably don't want to talk about something like that…"

"Nah. I'm fine with it." He shrugged it off. "_Most of it anyway._" He added in his head, almost mocking himself. "She was the only one of them to try and be friends with me."

"Mmm, I see." She nodded. "Was it because you were as much of an idiot back then as you are now?"

"…Wow, that hurt." He rolled his eyes. "But no, it was because of my bad luck. Bad things always seemed to happen around me and they avoided me because of it."

"And Saten-san didn't care?"

"Nope."

"That sounds like her," Mikoto smiled.

"What about your childhood? Anything you're willing to share?"

"Uh, no. Mine was pretty tame, all things considered."

"Really? I expected more from a Level 5." He joked.

"H-Hey now!" She began. "Actually, you've got a point." She chuckled. "Things just sort of happened. I went to Academy City and they saw that I had a really high potential so I kept up with my training and eventually developed into a Level 5."

"Oh yeah, I heard you started as a Level 1."

"Yep."

"Actually, that reminds me, you're a Level 5."

"W-What? What kind of idiot-" She began.

"No, I mean, you're a Level 5. Don't you have more important things to do than chase a Level 0 like me around?" He recalled bringing this up several times during their more violent encounters but could not remember getting a satisfactory answer.

"You can't call yourself a Level 0 with that hand of yours. It can deflect my Railgun like it's nothing." She rolled her eyes. "I just can't stand strong people who act like they're weak. Take some responsibility and show off a little."

"Sorry but that's not my style. Besides, against a normal person, I'm a normal person." He explained. "This right hand won't help me there."

"But what normal person would face off against someone who defeated the Third ranked Level 5?"

"You'd be surprised." He mumbled and Mikoto decided to take his word for it, though it still bothered her. Their friendly chat continued until they came upon Kamijou's dormitory.

"Ah, this is where we part ways then." Touma turned to her. "I kind of feel off, you know? Usually, it's the other way around."

"Usually, it's the guy walking the girl home."

"O-Oh!" She blushed again as the thought hadn't crossed her mind; Touma laughed.

"Don't take it to heart. I don't mind." He looked up. "Actually, since I've already got a guest, I wouldn't mind if you wanted to stay for dinner or something."

"Ah, no. I wouldn't intrude like that."

"Eh, suit yourself." He shrugged. "See you around, Misaka."

"_Misaka-san!_" She reminded him.

"Heh. You weren't so picky about me using honorifics before." He noted and she quickly replayed the conversation in her head. She turned red again, though he couldn't tell if this was from embarrassment or rage either. Although he felt like he had learned a bit more about Misaka today, there was still a long way to go.

"Ug, you're an idiot, you know that? Whatever. See you around." She sighed as she walked away. Touma smiled and walked into the elevator. It had been a while since he felt like he had earned a new friend, he liked the feeling. Disregarding that for the moment, he walked to his dorm's door and opened it.

"Touma-kun! About time!" And was immediately greeted by a waving Ruiko, sitting at his table with Index.

"Wha- Ruiko? How did you?"

"I came by earlier to check on you two but you weren't home so Index let me stay and wait." She explained as the nun, who few would actually see as such, spoke up.

"I thought it was alright to let her in, since she knew about me." She added; Touma nodded and closed the door.

"Wait a minute, you!" He pointed at Index. "When you came to my school, it was like you were a completely different person!" Index merely tilted her head in confusion.

"Didn't you tell me to loosen up?"

"O-Oh well, yeah but that was…" He tried to think of the right word but couldn't so he let it go. "Never mind…"

"So, how'd the night go?" Ruiko asked and was rather surprised when they both blushed. "Hey now… Touma-kun, I thought you said I could trust you…"

"What? No, Ruiko, I swear nothing like that happened!"

"Mhm, sure. I'll only believe you if you cook the best, possible meal." She stuck out her tongue. "I may or may not have skipped lunch today."

"_Was that your plan from the beginning!?_"

_/Scene:_

"_Shirai-san, are you at the sight yet?_" The Level 4 Teleporter heard her partner ask over her ear piece.

"Yeah. The area is ruined." She sighed as she glanced around at the park, another incident caused by the Graviton Bomber. Another Judgment member had even gotten caught in the explosion. She held that same, black device in her hand from before. This time, however, it beeped only once and its screen shined a blue light. "The AIM Reader did manage to confirm the signal this time."

"_God. If we copy the information and send it off, our phones should be able to detect when the Bomber's AIM field is near them._"

"I'm really impressed by this technology." Shirai complimented. "I didn't know we had gotten so far in AIM research."

"_Well, it's not perfect. It's possible that it'll react to similar AIM fields as well, and that electromancers could disrupt the program in general…_"

"Ah, I see." She muttered. "I'll be back at the office soon, okay?"

"_Okay. I'll have some tea ready._"

"Please, Uiharu-san. You know I don't like tea with an empty stomach…"

"_Right, right, sorry. The only other thing we have here is milk though…_"

"Jeez, I can't believe Konori-senpai sometimes… Whatever, we'll go out after work."

"_Okay!_" And with that settled, Kuroko turned off her Bluetooth and disappeared.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; School Garden**

**Date: June 30****th**

"Bwahahahahah!" Touma wailed, holding his sides, as he took a good look at Ruiko's face. "Y-Your eyebrows!"

"They are _not _funny…" She crossed her arms and frowned. Even Index couldn't suppress her giggles. "Aw, come on, not you too, Index… They don't look that funny…"

"It's not just your eyebrows, it's the story too." He managed to suppress his laughter. "'_But most of all, I hate all eyebrows in the world!' _I can't believe someone would actually say that."

"B-But it is true! She had the ability Dummy Check and used it to draw eyebrows on Tokiwadai girls while being undetected!" Ruiko slammed her hands on the table. "I only got caught in it because I was wearing their uniform at the time."

"How'd you guys end up catching her anyway? That sounds like a pretty useful ability for getting away."

"She couldn't hide herself from cameras. We had Uiharu watch them as we tracked her." She smiled, proudly. "Though it was a little weird…"

"What was weird?"

"The databases said that she wasn't able to completely make herself disappear but she could." She then wondered aloud. "It makes me wonder if Level Upper is real or not…"

"What's Level Upper? And what's a database?" Index cocked her head to the side. Touma began to explain it to her, well at least what a database was, as Saten became lost in her thoughts.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; A Certain High School**

**Date: July 1st**

As he lay on the floor and try to think of _anything _other than the girl curled up at his side, he really needed to talk to her about this sometime, he settled on trying to figure out when had she become so engraved in his life. No, that was a pretty obvious question. They'd met up on June 18th, when she appeared at Ruiko's door.

To be more specific, Touma wasn't sure when exactly Index and his class got acquainted by they sure were now. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he often forgot important work at home and she had to bring it to him, or even that she locked herself out quite often and needed his key to get back in (he never asked why she left the room in the first place).

The way it happened didn't matter though, honestly. What did matter is that they all knew Index and she knew all of them, even by name though that wasn't that hard for someone with perfect memory. They also knew that she lived with Touma, he specifically remembered not only the piercing stares he got from his classmates but also the lecture he got from both Komoe-sensei _and _Fukiyose regarding the subject.

Touma remembered a time when he was supposed to keep this a secret.

But no one reported him and it never leaked outside the class.

It's as if it was still a secret, only shared by a couple dozen more people.

**Location: School District 7**

**Date: July 5****th**

"Do you think it'd be scary if you actually met her?" Saten asked the rest of the girls at the table, her 'new' eyebrows having long since vanished. "The woman of urban legend, The Stripper Lady!"

"Not at all! After all, wouldn't that just make her a weird pervert?" Misaka questioned as Ruiko rolled her eyes.

"Then how about this story?" Kazari pulled out her laptop that she'd been carrying in her bag and placed it on the table for all to see. "Disaster strikes when the city wind turbines begin to reverse rotation."

"Don't stand between Districts at 4:44 pm!" Ruiko continued. "You'll be taken into the illusive 'imaginary number school district!'" She read the next one too. "The Level Upper tool that can increase your Level just by using it!"

"Ha, as if such a thing could exist." Despite all the evidence suggesting it did, Shirai still had a hard time believing it. Even if she did have it physically in her hands, she'd have to deny it exists regardless since neither Anti-Skill nor Judgment were releasing any information that they'd collected on it to the public. "You shouldn't read such pointless sites."

"We shouldn't be bothering with urban legends regardless." Mikoto continued. "This _is _Academy City, after all.

"You have no sense of romance…" Ruiko lamented.

"Sometimes, rumors are just the truth that's been distorted too." Uiharu added.

"And then there are times when the rumor is spot on. Like 'the man with the ability to nullify all other abilities.'" She smirked.

"I'll admit, that sounds ridiculous, even now. But I believe that my Onee-sama wouldn't lie about that gentleman's ability." Kuroko crossed her arms. "Not to mention that I've seen for myself that my teleportation doesn't work on him." Mikoto nodded.

_/Scene:_

She was surprised when she met the person of their conversation a short while later, after finishing her browsing of manga at Green Mart. She was even more surprised, infuriated even, when he tried to leave her with a strange woman that apparently needed directions. She nearly blew a gasket when that strange woman started to strip before their very eyes.

"_The Stripper Lady!?_ _There really are true rumors!_"

And upon seeing him being blamed for stripping down the strange woman and then running off, fearfully, she felt that she finally understood why he called himself misfortunate.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7**

**Date: July 10****th**

Touma sighed and looked at Mikoto. "You know, if you're still making a big deal about it, I guess I'll accept your duel." She grinned.

"You know, I've been waiting for a chance at this…" She cracked her knuckles. "Against someone who can negate my attacks, I get to go all out. That rarely happens." And though that statement unnerved Kamijou quite a bit, he'd said he would do it and so he would. He led her to a seemingly abandoned spot underneath a bridge. It looked good enough.

"We won't bother anyone else out here." Touma told her, while still wondering if this was a good idea in the first place. Though, if he actually went through with it, perhaps she would stop bugging him about it. "I'm ready whenever you are."

"You should know that _I'm _the one who's been waiting!" Misaka yelled as she allowed electricity to surge around her and then shoot towards Imagine Breaker. At this point, blocking her strikes had become engraved in his memory and he do so effortlessly. "Right, that still doesn't work… You haven't gotten rusty!" She complimented him. "But let's see how you deal with something I haven't done before." She thrust her hand downwards as electricity flowed into the ground, dragging up iron sand and forming it into a blade.

"H-Hey, hold on, isn't bringing a weapon a little unfair?" Touma took a step back.

"I made this with my powers." She said while walking forward. Touma's face went into full shock when a falling leaf was chopped in two by simply falling on it. "I can make it like a chainsaw by vibrating the iron sand. You might bleed a little if it touches you!" She sprinted towards him.

"I'll do more than bleed!" Kamijou shouted in respond as he dodged to the left, avoiding her first strike. She quickly moved the blade horizontally but he ducked underneath and rolled away. She tried to bring the blade down on him as he was getting up but he pushed his foot off the ground at the last moment, as if he expected the attack to come, and avoided it again. Taking that chance, he ran to try and create a bigger distance between the two of them and regroup.

"If you're going to just run away then I'll just do this!" She shouted as the blade expanded and took on a more flexible shape. She swung it again and it zipped towards Kamijou's back. At the speed it was going, and way he was positioned, there was no way he'd be able to dodge in time.

"Ah! The sword lengthened!" He stopped and spun around, sending his right fist directly into the flowing blade and it immediately dispersed. He shook his right hand as if it hurt and looked at Mikoto. "Jeez, you might've actually killed me with that…"

"I haven't even gotten started yet." She gave a smug smile as the iron sand gathered up into a flowing ball above his head, streams of sand still gathering up.

"You can even control iron in the wind!?" He said while looking up. "But even this," he began as it all began to shoot down at him, "will end in the same result!" He swiped his hand against it and pushed it away, it deformed and floated harmlessly in the air afterwards.

"Got you!" Mikoto laughed as she appeared on his left side and grabbed his wrist with her right hand. Acting quickly, Touma grabbed her left arm with his right hand. "Eh!?" "_His reaction time is a lot better than I thought! Then again, he can deflect my lightning… Why isn't he that fast usually!?_"

"I guess this is a stalemate then…" He whispered but Mikoto wasn't taking that, not anymore. She raised her foot and placed it on his chest, pushing forward and trying to separate the two. It only resulted in her forcing Touma's wrist out of her palm, however, as he tightened his grip on her arm. This sent Touma onto his back and Mikoto on top of him.

"Ah-!" She tried to quickly pick herself up but Touma wouldn't let go. She blushed before she noticed that he was prepping his left fist to punch her. She flinched on instinct and could only wonder what was going on when the attack never came. She opened her eyes to see Kamijou doing his best possum impression, which wasn't that good.

"Why you…" She stood up quickly, forcing her arm out of his grip, and let electricity flow around her again. "Why do you treat me like a joke!?" She screamed as electricity flowed towards Touma again, though he was quick to raise his right hand and negate it.

"A-Ah! I thought you wanted to win!" He yelled as he stumbled as he picked himself up while also crawling forward.

"Not. Like. This!" She yelled again as a lightning bolt shot down from the sky, though it was negated like the rest.

"Have we gotten back to the relationship level where you try to casually murder me!?" He screamed back at her while he ran forward. "I thought this was a friendly, safe duel!"

"Why won't you fight me seriously!?" She ran after him, chucking lightning the whole time. To Mikoto, it was a reminder of everything she hated about that idiot. But to Touma, it was a little nostalgic. Regardless, he resolved to never accept Mikoto's challenge again.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7**

**Date: July 12****th**

"_Shit, shit, shit!_" Those were the only thoughts going through his head as he ran. Somehow, someway, Judgment had become smarter much quicker than he expected. His powers weren't at their maximum output yet!

But still, when he had returned to his dorm, he noticed that there were Anti-Skill vans parked outside and, looking up at his floor, that his door was already open.

That meant that they knew everything about him.

He couldn't be so careless anymore.

He had to go bigger.

He had to strike quick and then leave.

Yes, he'd be able to do so and still get away with it.

Especially with the power he know held.

**Location: School District 7; Seventh Mist**

**Date: July 16****th**

"How'd you manage to drag me out here again?" Touma looked over at the silver haired foreigner, who replying with a smile on her face.

"Actually, you brought me here." She reminded him. "I asked you if you would buy me some new clothes but you refused to go alone."

"Right…" He recalled how Index had complained about only having that one pair of clothes and pajamas, which he brought a while after his first two trips in order to not have a similar incident that resulted in 'the video,' as it was affectionately called in the Delta Force.

"Onii-chan, which store are we going into?" He heard the voice of his second companion today. A little girl that he'd found in the mall, who apparently wanted to buy herself some clothes as well.

"I don't know, honestly…" He rubbed his neck. "I don't shop much."

"Ah, Touma! You're useless!" Index whined but Touma could only grin at how much more outgoing she'd become over the month she'd spent with him.

"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off but then noticed someone out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, hold on a minute you two, I'll be right back."

Almost silently, he walked over to Tokiwadai's Ace, who seemed to be imagining herself in rather childish pajamas. "Biri Biri, what are you doing?" He asked, completely straight faced.

"W-What are you doing here!?" She hid the pajamas behind her back, though she was too late, and looked dead at Imagine Breaker.

"What? Am I not allowed to be here?" He looked to the side. "Besides, I'm only really here for them." He pointed their way and they took that as their cue to walk over.

"Onii-chan, what are you do- Oh! You're the Tokiwadai Onee-chan!" Mikoto looked at the little girl before she recognized her as the one she returned her purse to during her short time as a Judgment member.

"Oh, you're the girl with that purse." She quickly turned her attention to Kamijou. "Wait, you have a sister?"

"Of course not. She was looking for a store so I'm just accompanying her there."

"Onii-chan brought me here!" She confirmed. "I want to have stylish clothes like the people on TV too!"

"Well I already think you're stylishly cute." She rubbed the little girl's head before she noticed the other girl, the foreigner. "And you're also showing her around?"

"Uh. She's a bit more complicated but more or less."

"Touma, Touma, there's a store over there with some nice clothes!" She grabbed his hand and tried to drag him away.

"Really? Let's go then, Onii-chan!" The little girl had suddenly grabbed his other hand and was pulling him too.

"Got it, got it." He smiled at the two before looking at the Railgun one more time. "Well, I'm a little busy, so see ya."

"Later, Onee-chan! Bye bye!" The little girl waved at Mikoto as she and Index led Touma away, Mikoto could only give an awkward wave back. The three were only able to search around for about half an hour before the entire mall was ordered to evacuate due to the possibility of a Graviton Bombing occurring there. Unfortunately, in the confusion, Kamijou lost sight of the little girl.

"Index, there are going to be a lot of Anti-Skill showing up here soon, most likely. I need you to get back home right away." Index nodded and headed back in the direction of Touma's dorm, she had long since gotten a spare key, while Touma searched around the crowd of people, eventually coming across Misaka again. "Biri Biri, have you seen that kid?" Her worried expression instantly told him that she hadn't. "Ah, jeez…"

"Wasn't she with you?"

"She isn't out here." He looked back at the store. "She might still be inside… Come on!" He ran past the doors and back inside, Mikoto following him.

_/Scene:_

Uiharu double checked, no triple checked, the hallways and streets and was absolutely sure that no one else remained. Shirai had contacted her a while ago and told her of the graviton particle acceleration around Seventh Mist, and that she might be the target, but she couldn't sit back and leave everyone else in danger.

It just wasn't how she did things.

Regardless, now everyone was gone and she could leave too.

"Onee-chan!"

Kazari quickly spun around and saw a little girl running towards her, a stuffed animal inside. She smiled to the girl as she ran towards her. The little girl held out the stuffed animal, it seemed to be a frog, and said.

"A guy with glasses told me to give this to you." Uiharu looked at the toy strangely before she noticed its head begin to collapse in on itself. Putting two and two together, she quickly grabbed the toy and threw it away from both of them and covered the girl with her body. She could hear the explosion and braced for impact but it never came. Quietly, she turned her head and saw the familiar Tokiwadai uniform.

"Misaka-san?" She stood up. "Oh! Kamijou-sama!" She exclaimed as she saw him in front of both of them, right hand outstretched.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked as he turned around.

"Onii-chan! Did you stop that explosion?"

"Ah, no. That was Misaka over here." He pointed at the Railgun, who immediately looked ticked.

"Don't try and pin your heroics on me." She crossed her arms. "I let the coin slip before I could fire my Railgun. If it wasn't for your hand, we'd be toast right now."

"Ah, don't be so modest." He waved his hand around. The little girl walked up to him regardless.

"Thank you, Onii-chan!"

"Don't worry about it." He grinned. "Besides, we should go find your mom, now shouldn't we?" The girl nodded in agreement as he began to guide her down. Mikoto, on the other hand, saw something very interesting from her vantage point on the now wall less floor of Seventh Mist. She saw someone walked away calmly.

"Uiharu-san, get to safety. I'm ending this." She called out before she ran and jumped from the floor, magnetizing herself to stick to one of the nearby buildings. Uiharu looked on in awe.

"Yes but a little bit longer…" Misaka could hear the guy mumble as he walked through an alleyway. "I'll have the power to make Judgment and those bastards… I'll blow them all awa-" He was suddenly kicked and landed in some trash. "What just happened…?" He mumbled to himself as he stood back up.

"Hi." Misaka put on a small smirk to match the smugness in her voice. "You don't really have to ask that, do you, Bomber-san?"

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about…"

"Well, that power was certainly impressive." She started again. "But unfortunately, there were no casualties. Not even a scrap or a bruise."

"Th-That's impossible. I used my full power on that!" He said, aloud, before he could stop himself. Misaka's grin grew wider.

"Eh?"

"I mean, it looked like a large explosion from the outside…" He reached for his bag, which held a rather large amount of spoons inside. He picked one out and prepared to throw it. "I meant there was no way for anyone to survive that!" Before he could throw it, the spoon was completely destroyed by a Railgun. And he was sent shooting backwards from the sheer force of it. Had Mikoto's aim been off, he would surely be dead.

Electricity gathering on her now extended arm, Mikoto looked down the alleyway coldly.

"R-Railgun…" He laughed to himself. "This time it's Tokiwadai's Ace, huh…? It's always like this. No matter what, I'm always being beaten to the ground." The Railgun began to walk towards him. "I'll kill you! People like you are the bad guys! Same with Judgment! People with power are always like that!"

Mikoto stopped.

Electricity sparked near her forehead.

"Power this, power that…" She grabbed the bomber by the collar. "Clench your teeth!" She yelled before she punched him. It knocked his MP3 player off of his face, it skid against the ground. "Jeez." She began to walk away.

Kaitabi Hatsuya could only grab his cheek in response.

"It's obvious why she hit you." A voice came from behind him. If he actually cared to look, he'd see the pig-tailed Teleporter of Judgment, Shirai Kuroko. "People like you who use lack of power as an excuse are unforgivable. Are you aware?"

He turned to her.

"Tokiwadai's Ace was originally just a Level 1? She reached Level 5 through sheer hard work." He looked down, almost as if he were going to cry. "However, even if she were a Level 1, she would've still stood against you."

"Just… arrest me…" He muttered.

_/Scene:_

After giving the Graviton Bomber to Anti-Skill, Shirai decided to take a look at the destruction caused by his final attack. As she stood and examined the damage, she heard a voice call out to her.

"Shirai-san!" Uiharu and Saten ran up to the boundary, a line of yellow tape that Anti-Skill had set up to keep normal citizens out of the crime scene.

"Thank goodness you're alright. You had me worried." Kuroko put on a steady smile.

"I'm sorry." She bowed to her friend. "But thanks to Kamijou-sama, I'm perfectly fine." She held her arms out as if to emphasis it, even spinning around once.

"Kamijou-san? He was here?" Shirai questioned and it seemed Ruiko was just as clueless.

"I'm not sure when he got here either but he was surely there when he blocked the bomb from hitting me or Misaka-san, and that little girl too."

Kuroko turned and took a look at the sight again. The area they were in was completely undamaged. It was as if the bomb just missed the spot entirely.

"_For the area they were in to be completely unharmed… Is that the power that Kamijou-san has…? Imagine Breaker…_" She managed a smile. "_Truly an incredible ability…_"

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Kamijou Touma's Dorm**

Index froze. She couldn't believe it. After so long, why did they have to find her? Why couldn't she have been free? She was really starting to like it here…

"Why, hello there." The tall man, no, priest spoke though his voice sounded nothing like what you would expect. He had a cigarette in his mouth and worth a long, black priest's robes. "It's been a while, eh? I'd have been here sooner but I ran into some unexpected trouble."

Index took a step back. Perhaps she could make a break for it and run to the elevator.

"Ah, you took off your Walking Church. That's why we couldn't track you." He smiled as if he had found the answer to a question that had been plaguing him for weeks. "But where'd you get rid of it? Ah, no matter. We'll just get you a new one, right?"

She took another step back. Just a little further. "_Wait, if they couldn't track me, how'd they know to go to Touma's dorm…?_" It suddenly dawned on her that they knew everything. They knew who had sheltered her, they knew where they lived and they also probably knew about Touma's mysterious Right Hand. It was over. She couldn't flee because that would only endanger them.

She knew she shouldn't have accepted their kindness from the start.

She could feel tears begin to form as she heard the elevator jingle, signifying that someone had just come up.

Kamijou Touma came around the corner and froze.

"Who is…?"

"Hello there, boy. I'm Stiyl Magnus. But you can call me Fortis931."

_/Scene: _Ending Phase: 「Oración」

_Author's Note: This chapter ended up _a lot _longer than I originally planned but I'm okay with that, and I'd think you all would be too. Like, holy crap, how did I even _do _this!? Looking back, I did put a lot of things in here so I don't know how I thought it wouldn't be this big. Well, from the beginning, a lot of these scenes weren't planned inside. For example, Kamijou's talk with Komoe wasn't originally there. But I saw an opportunity to put it there, and perhaps foreshadow a bit of what happened in Touma's past, and took it._

_But wow, I sort of feel like the jump in length is a bit too much, you get what I mean? _

_I hope no one minds that I jumped around with the other Level Upper users, and with parts of Railgun in general. I just felt that they weren't really story important, and also the scenes would be pretty much unchanged from what you've already seen in the anime/manga. Albeit, the existence of Level Upper would've been known just a little bit earlier. Just seemed like a waste of space, you know? I still wanted to acknowledge that they happened within the story though._

_I think those scenes are what really brought out the chapter's length regardless. Especially the final part with the Graviton Bomber. Originally, it was going to be in the next chapter, as well as the ending with Stiyl as well as the fight, but I thought a cliffhanger was more fun. _

_Fun fact: The beta name for this chapter was 'Kami-yan disease.' Because, if you hadn't noticed, a lot of the beginning of the chapter had to do with it spreading. But alas, it is only the beginning and our poor Kamijou-san is none the wiser. Back on topic, as the chapter moved on, it 'focused' on it less and less so I thought that the name didn't suit it as much and changed it to what it is now._

_Oh yeah, more fun facts. For people too lazy to figure out what day is which date, here's a little chart._

_June 30__th__ is a Friday_

_July 1st is a Saturday_

_July 5__th__ is a Wednesday_

_July 10__th__ is a Monday_

_July 12 is a Wednesday_

_And finally, July 16__th__ is a Sunday_

_And yes, you're thinking right, we're nearing the date of the beginning of the core series. July 19__th__, to be exact._


	5. MAGIC-IS-REAL

_Author's Note: Personally, I liked both Stiyl and Kanzaki's fight in the Index Arc so I hope I did them justice here. _

_FoxOnPie: Mmm, yes. Things will change. More than you'd think but less than you'd hope, I suppose. Though… was it really? I've yet to see Gurren Lagann so it was completely accidental. ^^;_

_Agent Nine: Indeed!_

_Guest: I do that for repetitions sake. I don't know why but it annoys me when the same word is used multiple times, even when it's names. That's disregarding the incredibly common words, of course, otherwise I doubt I'd be able to write at all._

_Engelmohr2004: I can ensure that he won't. It would defeat the purpose of his backstory having more bearing on his interactions with people. Also, due to that, it'd be a lot harder to hide._

_Aznereth: I wouldn't say that but thank you for the compliment regardless! Though this is but a piece of Touma's backstory. Admittedly, this is probably the part that'll come up the most though, since it's the most traumatizing. As I stated above, Touma will be keeping his memories. Or at least, I have no plans of having him lose them as of now._

_Damienus1019: Thanks! You know, now that I lot of people have brought it up, I've been thinking about a setting where Touma's backstory matters enough that his memory loss actually affects him, yet he can still keep it a secret. I don't know if I'll actually do anything with that, I won't in this story I'm afraid, but we'll see._

_ZidanReign &amp; a certain reading fan: Thank you!_

_/Scene:_ Opening Phase: 「Daze」

Chapter 5: Magicians

**Location: School District 7; Kamijou Touma's Dorm**

**Date: July 16****th**

"Who is…?"

"Hello there, boy. I'm Stiyl Magnus. But you can call me Fortis931." The priest smirked a grim smile; Index quickly turned around. "It's something like 'I prove why my name is the strongest here,' right?"

"Touma! You need to run!" Index yelled, ignoring the Magician for now. "He's one of the people after me!"

"Oh, I see." His tone and expression darkened, the priest was actually impressed by the aura of seriousness he gave off. "No need to worry, Index. I'll handle this once and for all."

"Touma…" She looked at him hard. "I can't let you."

"If the boy has a death wish, let me grant it." Stiyl spoke up. "After all, I've already given my Magic name. There was no escaping anyway."

"Magic name?" Touma spread his legs and brought his fist to around his chest, prepared to use his right hand at any moment.

"Ah, right, you Espers are unfamiliar with our terms. Forgive me." He smirked again. "Apparently, we, Magicians, shouldn't say our names when we use Magic. It's an old tradition I don't understand but basically, our Magic names are more like murderer's nicknames."

"I see." Kamijou repeated. He gripped his right fist and dashed forward, passing by Index.

"Touma!"

"As if something like that matters!" Instead of using his usual right, he started with his left, perhaps as a sort of test. However, the priest merely sidestepped the blow. Going a few more feet, Kamijou turned around and faced Stiyl again.

"A punch? I thought Espers could do more impressive things than that." He mocked him but Touma shrugged.

"I'm just a Level 0."

"Pitiful." Stiyl pulled out his cigarette and tossed it over the banister, "flames." The lit part of the thrown item burst into flames and then flowed above the Fire Magicians into a pillar.

"Index!" Touma spoke up as he went into a stance, putting both his fists up. "Get out of here. As it is, you're going to get in the way." As if humoring him, Stiyl did not attack just yet.

"B-But Touma, he's a Magician. Even if you used your right hand…"

"Go." His tone was firm, a lot different from the lazy, unlucky boy that was there not ten minutes before.

"…Please don't die!" Tears began to form but she nodded anyway and ran not for the elevator but the stairs. It looked like Touma was right to teach her a little fire safety.

"A useless final effort." Stiyl spoke up eventually. "It won't be that hard to find her after I dispose of you."

"If you think you can chase people around and decide their fates at your whim…" Touma began. "Then I'll have to destroy that illusion of yours."

"We'll see, Esper." The Magician swung his hand, the sword of fire following. "The gift of pain for the giant!" The instant the sword touched anything, it exploded and engulfed the rest of the floor like an erupting volcano. Of course, none of that matters as the fire all vanished an instant later as a shattering sound rang out.

"Like I said." Stiyl froze. "I'm not going anywhere." Kamijou Touma stood firm, right hand outstretched.

"Tch." Regaining his composure, the Magician swung his arm again, another sword of flames shooting towards Touma but the result was the same. Outstretching his right hand, the flames instantly vanished. "_Could he be using Magic…? Impossible. If that were the case, he wouldn't have had Index run._"

Yes, that's how dangerous the Grimoires were. Should a Magician use the books, they could rewrite the rules of the world. 1+1 could equal 3, the dead could be revived, and nothing would be off limits. They would become a Magic God; one who mastered Magic to the point of entering God's domain.

The 103,000 Grimoires were on an entirely different level from a nuclear bomb.

Though, Stiyl could also not feel any Magical power emanating from the boy so he wasn't a Magician. He couldn't use the Grimoires.

"Who are you…?" He found himself asking aloud. And then he remembered how the Magical signal from Index's Walking Church had disappeared. Yes, that's right, it just vanished. As if it was destroyed. Could this boy have done that too?

His question was answered with a fist, which sent him rolling along the cold floor.

"No one important. Just Kamijou Touma, the Level 0." Was Kamijou's response. Stiyl wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he stood back up, making a complex face at the Level 0 Imagine Breaker. Though he did not know why, the boy in front of him seemed more like a creature that merely took the shape of a human.

"One of the five great elements from which the world is constructed." The Magician began chanting and Kamijou rushed towards him again. "The great flame of the beginning. It is a light of blessing that raises life and a light of judgment that punishes evil."

"No you don't!"

"It is overflowing with calm blessings and with freezing misfortune that destroys cold darkness. Its name is fire and its role is the sword. Be manifested and become the power that eats into my body!" Touma stopped, only a few feet in front of the Magician, and he did not know why. His body had acted on its own, as if by instinct.

Of course, this turned out for the best as a great mass of flames erupted in front of Stiyl, forming the shape of a man with a black, ooze like center. The door handles, the face plates, they started to melt. If Touma had continued forward, or should someone walk out at this inopportune time, they would have surely died. "The witch-hunting pope, Innocentius. It's meaning… kill thy enemy." The condescending smirk had returned to the Magician's face. Innocentius charged forward but Touma did not waver.

"Out of the way." He swung his hand dismissively, dispersing the giant humanoid flame and looked down Stiyl again. His smirk had not vanished and a sudden roar behind him attracted his attention. Turning his head, he caught sight of a reforming Innocentius. "Wha-? How?" He would get no answer as the beast raised up its hand and, in a burst of fire, a large cross materialized. The fiery giant aimed its weapon directly at Kamijou's head, who brought up Imagine Breaker instinctively in an attempt to dispel the creature. He was shocked again when it had no effect. No, that wasn't correct, the creature was definitely being annihilated but it simply revived afterwards, the rate of revival being perhaps a tenth of a second. Kamijou was stuck.

"Ash to ash…" The priest held up his hands as fire gathered there once again. "Dust to dust…" Kamijou couldn't move, not yet, and he could only look back as the attack was prepared. "…Squeamish Bloody Rood!" Both flaming swords shot out of his hands, barreling for Innocentius. The swords made contact with the flame god and exploded. "And that's all she wrote." He muttered only to freeze once more as he heard the now familiar sound of something shattering. The smoke caused by the fiery explosion parted as Touma ran out, Stiyl couldn't move. At the last possible moment, he had removed his hand and let the flaming blades hit Innocentius. As soon as the explosion began, he stuck out his hand out again and negated it. If he was off by even a second, the fiery ball would've consumed him.

"I-Innocentius!" Stiyl cried out as the giant began to reform again but it was too late, he met Kamijou's fist again. Already tired out from summoning Innocentius, and his previous punch, he did not get back up. Touma sighed as the flame god roared and dispersed, for good this time, since its master was out of commission. The smoke blew around in the wind and eventually, the fire alarm went off.

"Perfect timing…" He murmured underneath his breath and glanced around at the still lingering fire and melted pieces of what once a dorm floor. "_I should probably get out of here before Anti-Skill and the firefighters show up._"

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Outside Kamijou Touma's Dorm**

Misaka Mikoto stood among the crowd as they watched the dormitory fire rage on, though the fire fighters were making progress. Most of the crowd was worried about the students inside, or what caused the fire in the first place but Mikoto was too busy wondering if that was the floor that that idiot lived on.

"Onee-sama! My Onee-sama!" She turned her head behind her as Shirai Kuroko ran up to her and grabbed her arm. "I didn't expect to find you here… Going out for some night fun before the weekend's over, eh?" She teased.

"Honestly, Kuroko…" She closed her eyes and recomposed herself. "How could you possibly expect me to be having some night fun right now?"

"Very simple, Onee-sama." She responded, factually. "There's absolutely no reason for you to be this far away from the dorm. Most shops are out in the opposite direction." Mikoto's eyes widened in realization before she settled on an annoyed look.

"I-I simply had something to do." There was no way she was here to converse with that idiot. Nope, none at all. "You, on the other hand… What are you doing here?" She asked before noticing the green armband on her kohai's arm. "Don't tell me…"

"Yes, I'm here on Judgment work." Kuroko turned her attention to the burning building. "The cause of this fire is Esper related, apparently."

"An Esper, huh…? Knowing that idiot, he probably got in a fight with whoever it was." She voiced her thoughts, absentmindedly.

"Eh? Would you happen to mean Kamijou-san, Onee-sama?" Kuroko asked, knowing full well that he was the only one Mikoto would address in such a way.

"Oh, yeah." She blushed slightly since she hadn't realized she was talking aloud. "He lives in this building."

"Oh!" The grip on Misaka's arm tightened. "That makes me finding you here seem all the more like a scandal."

"G-Get those thoughts out of your head!" The Level 4 was on the verge of being shocked. "I had something to do, like I said, and just happened to see the fire." The Teleporter didn't seem like she bought it.

"In any case, we should contact Kamijou-san to see if he's okay."

"Yeah. I'll give him a call."

"And you even have his phone number?" She frowned, though it was obviously playful. "Kuroko might just get jealous at this rate." _Zap!_

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7**

Touma put his hand against a wall as he caught his breath, having been running since he left his dormitory.

"Whew…" He looked at his right hand and clenched it again. "So that was Magic, huh…?" He sighed. And then his phone rang. He quickly took it out of his pocket and answered it. "Hello?"

"_Touma!_" Index yelled so loudly that Touma actually had to move the phone from his ear. "_Are you alright?_"

"I think I've gone deaf." He joked but immediately knew that Index wouldn't leave him alone until she got an actual answer. "I'm fine. Magician's down. Where are you?"

"_You actually…_" She murmured so quietly that he almost didn't hear her. "_I'm at Ruiko's dorm. I… I didn't know where else to go._"

"It's fine." He assured her. "I'll be right there."

"_Okay. Be careful, we don't know if there are other Magicians around._"

"Heh. I should telling you that." He smiled. "See you in a bit."

"_Okay._" He hung up and began walking, about return his phone to its rightful place but it rung again.

"Oi, Index, I just said I'd be there in a bit." Annoyance was evident in his tone.

"_Index? Do you even check your caller ID before you answer your phone, idiot._"

"A-Ah, Misaka." Sufficiently embarrassed, he held the phone with both hands. "This is such a rare event. What do you need?"

"Your dorm's on fire." He paused.

"_How did she find out so quickly?_"

"Kamijou?"

"You're kidding!?" He put on his best shocked voice. "Such misfortune! I bet all my homework went up in flames too!"

"_Which floor do you live on?_"

"The seventh."

"_Wow that really is unlucky._" He could hear the astonishment in her voice. "_It seems like the fire is concentrated there._"

"Ah! Don't call this Kamijou-san just to tell him bad news!"

"_Would you rather you came back to the surprise?_"

"…Point taken."

"_Eh? Hey, Kuroko, stop!_" "_Let me see the phone, Onee-sama!_" "_A-At least give me a minute!_"

"Misaka…?" He raised an eyebrow.

"_Kamijou-san!_"

"Oh, hey, Shirai."

"_Has there been any unusual activity or suspicious characters around your dormitory lately?_"

"Mmm, not that I know of." He heard her sigh. "Sorry."

"_Forget about it, Kamijou-san. This kind of thing will probably be taken out of Judgment's hands anyway._"

"Wait, you don't think that it was just an oven fire accident or something like that?"

"_No, this was definitely an Esper. The flames are at their strongest outside the rooms and multiple eye witnesses saw, and reported, what appeared to be a fight on that floor._" She explained to him and Kamijou paled. Someone might be able to recognize him.

"I see. Well, thanks for the heads up." He managed a smile, though neither of them could see it. "Goodnight, you two."

"_Goodnight, Kamijou-san._" He hung up.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Saten Ruiko's Dorm**

He was met with a hug as soon as Ruiko opened the door, from both Index and the aforementioned Level 0, but he was too surprised to actually return it.

"Jeez, Touma-kun. I was so worried." Ruiko said once she pulled away, though Index remained. "Index just showed up here with tears in her eyes, saying how you'd gotten into a fight to protect her and I just didn't know what to think."

"You should know me better than that." He smiled and even pat Index's head. "It'll take more than a Magician to take me out." He told them both as Ruiko nodded.

"I'm sorry for doubting you."

"M-Me too…" Index finally muttered as she let him go. "B-But don't ask me to run away again! Next time, I want to help! You don't know how Magic works."

"Eh, I did just fine this time." He thought about it for a moment. "Then again, really, I just punched the guy a couple times." Both girls were silent.

"…I…" Index was speechless. "Explain it, please." And so, Touma did. He told them of the blazing swords he threw at Kamijou; he told them of the smugness behind each of his actions and he told them of the fiery beast that the Magician had crafted and how he had barely avoided it to strike him.

"Incredible…" Index mumbled before shaking her head violently. "Still. You can't expect to just punch your way through everything. My 103,000 Grimoires can help."

"I'll keep it in mind." She frowned at that answer but Touma continued. "I think we have a more important issue at hand."

"Hm?" Ruiko tilted her head.

"My dorm's on fire."

"Eeeh!" They both screamed.

"Yeah…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sure Index can stay here, right?" Ruiko nodded. "Then that just leaves me…"

"Ah, why don't you ask one of your classmates?" Touma paled. There were only two people he would even _think _about asking such a favor from. Tsuchimikado was his neighbor and it was likely that his room was totaled as well, sudden worry over where he and Maika were going to stay arose but faded as he thought of his second option.

Aogami Pierce (Touma still refused to believe that was his actual name). He didn't live in the male student dorms, no, he lived in an apartment above a bakery, it was rumored that he did it because he liked the maid's uniforms. That was all fine and dandy, however, and not what worried Kamijou. He had never seem what Aogami's room looked like, though he could imagine and he did _not _like what he saw. To have to stay there for multiple days…

"Touma…? Is something wrong…?" Index eyed him strangely.

"N-Nothing." He silently muttered as he pulled out his phone and found the pervert's contact information. He answered almost instantly

"_Kami-yan? You never call me, what's up?_"

"Ah, um, Aogami-san…"

"_Oooh, honorifics? What do you need? In another 'misfortunate' situation?_" He could hear Pierce's grin over the phone. "_Or do you need a place to stay?_"

"Eh!? How'd you know!?"

"_Our favorite sis-con sergeant's already staying over._" So that's where Tsuchimikado was.

"Oh. …You wouldn't happen to have room for a third, huh?"

"_Of course, of course, there's always room for Kami-yan._" Aogami snickered. "_It'll be like a sleep-over. We'll gossip about which girls are still available for me and Tsuchimikado. So basically the girls that haven't gotten the Kami-yan disease, as few as they are._"

"There's no such thing as the- Never mind." He gave a sigh of defeat. "Text me your address, I'll be there when I can."

"_Sure thing. Hurry over, Kami-yan~_" He hung up after that.

"…I've got a place. It's better than nothing." He said the last part quietly so they couldn't hear him. "If anything weird starts happening, you guys should call me right away, no matter the time."

"Yeah, I will." Ruiko gave a deep sigh.

"What's wrong, Ruiko?"

"It's just that… I feel kind of useless, you know?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you have Imagine Breaker. Misaka-san and Shirai-san are both incredibly powerful Espers, even Uiharu's a member of Judgment and a real computer genius." She looked down. "Compared to me who can't do anything. If those Magicians attacked, I wouldn't even be able to protect Index. I don't even… really believe in Magic. Am I really the best person to leave her with…?"

"I wouldn't bring her to Aogami's house if my life depended on it." He deadpanned.

"Touma, I'm being serious here…"

"Right, sorry." Collecting his thoughts, he found that he didn't really know what to say to her.

"Ruiko… Just because you don't have a power doesn't make you useless." Index spoke up for him. "Look at me, I have all the knowledge in the world yet I can't use Magic."

"Index is right." Her train of thought led Touma in the place he needed to go. "You need to focus on what you can do as opposed to what you can't."

"But what _can _I do?"

"I… I don't know," he honestly said, sheepishly. "But that's for you to find out, right?" He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "And I know that you will because you're you. And I believe in you."

"Touma-kun, Index…" She brought her head up and smiled. "Thanks. You're both great friends." Touma's face darkened and he let go of her shoulder, suddenly. "Touma-kun?"

"I should probably get going." He hastily said. "I'll be back after school, tomorrow." Before either of them could say anything more, he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

"_You're both great friends._" He replayed her sentence in his head and chuckled darkly. "How can you call me that when I can't even tell you about your parents…?"

_/Scene:_

"Is there something wrong with Touma?" Index asked as she stared at the closed door.

"I think so." She crossed her arms. "Maybe it had something to do with the Magician? Or not being here?" She wasn't really considering those as ideas herself but she could think of nothing else.

"Maybe."

"Well, I was actually about to go to sleep. I've got school in the morning, you know."

"Oh, yes, yes. I'll probably sleep too then." Ruiko smiled at the silver haired girl.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. Just don't make too much noise, okay?"

"No, no." Shaking her head and waving her hands, Index looked a lot younger than she already did. "Today has been very tiring."

"Okay!" She gave the casually dressed nun a thumbs up. "And remember, I'm a girl too so if you want to talk about things you couldn't talk to Touma about, let me know!"

"W-What?" She blushed. "R-Ruiko, what are you talking about?"

Sticking out her tongue, Ruiko giggled, "I don't know."

"_Focus on what you can do instead of what you can't._"

"_But what if I can make myself learn how to do things I can't now._" Ruiko wondered as she remembered that download link she saw on one of her rumor websites, a link that apparently held Level Upper.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Grandeur Bakery**

"Kami-yan! Come in, come in!" Aogami Pierce welcomed the unlucky boy into the bakery and directed him to staircase that was usually off limits to the customers since it led to the apartments above. Touma mentally braced himself for the horrors that were surely kept within the confines of this room and when he opened the door… he was largely disappointed, in a sad, twisted way. The room was pretty plain, not that much different from his dorm honestly. It was definitely bigger though.

"What?" He couldn't help but say.

"I know the feeling. I expected something more than this too, nyah." Tsuchimikado snickered from one of the corners.

"I used to have tons of posters but they made me take it down after one of the inspections. Apparently, it wasn't within their code of conduct." Aogami grumbled as he walked in and took a seat on his bed. "Don't worry about uniforms and the like, I've got plenty. We're all close enough in size, right?"

Touma shrugged, as did Tsuchimikado.

"But let's forget about that! I'm more curious about your love life, Kami-yan. There have been a lot of things going around about you, you know?

"There has?" He wanted to sound curious but he ended up annoyed. "That's funny because there's nothing to talk about!"

"On the contrary, I heard you were building a harem of middle schoolers." Motoharu grinned. "You even had two Tokiwadai students, nyah."

"Middle schoolers!? Tokiwadai!?" Aogami marveled. "I didn't know Kami-yan had tastes like that! He obviously appreciates the superior ojou girls! Take that, Tsuchimikado!"

"Nyah, I still say the normal, generic type of girl is the best."

"Ug, your tastes really do leave a lot to be desired."

"They're a classic, Aogami!" He argued. "Besides, they typically have low self-confidence since they're so run of the mil. You get to help them through their insecurities! It's a classic love story setup!"

They started going back and forth, comparing tastes and occasionally asking for Touma's opinion on things.

Touma openly groaned as he realized tonight, and perhaps the next several nights, were going to be a lot longer than they had any right to be.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; A Certain High School**

**Date: July 17****th**

"Now class, as I'm sure you all heard, one of the dormitory's caught fire yesterday." Komoe-sensei opened class with that the next day. "As things are, they need to be completely redone. They might even leave the floor vacant the rest of the year." Several groans were heard from various dorm neighbors of Touma's.

"However, we will be relocating you to a different complex within the week. It's also important to note that most of your items were capable of being recovered, despite the damage to the room." Kamijou smiled at that. Looks like things weren't so bad after a- "Well, most of them. I'm sorry, Kamijou-chan, but everything in your room was completely unsalvageable."

"_Such misfortune!_" He screamed internally as his face hit his desk. Even his other classmates looked at him with pitying expressions. "_The next time I see that Magician, I swear…_"

"W-Well, as it is, I'm excusing you from doing the homework that was due."

"Thanks, Sensei." He said without picking up his head.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Uiharu Kazari's Dorm**

**Date: July 18****th**

"So this is the girl you were telling me about…?" Uiharu sat at the opposite end of her small table from Ruiko, though she was more interested in the foreigner that sat adjacent to her.

"Yes! Her name's Index."

"Hello." Index smiled at Uiharu, who returned it.

"Uiharu Kazari, it's nice to meet you." She brought a finger to her chin. "Huh? I've never heard Index be used as a name before. Maybe it's a foreign thing?" For some reason, the air in the room tensed.

"Yes, yes, absolutely! Index is in no way, shape or form a strange or fake name in the slightest, isn't that right, Uiharu?" Ruiko's eyes pleaded with Kazari to just say 'yes' and so she did. "But why did you call me here, Uiharu?"

"Right, um, you see…" Her face turned red as she thought it over. "It's about Kamijou-sama…"

"Uiharu, your face is super red right now." She chuckled but then, suddenly, got serious. "Wait, don't tell me… You don't have a _crush_ on him, do you!?" She exclaimed.

"Ah…!" Index matched her surprise.

"No, no, no, no!" She shook her head quickly. "Nothing like that, gosh, Saten-san…"

"Oh." She blushed out of embarrassment a bit. "Then what's the problem?"

"Well, I'm not really sure how to say this. I've been really trying my best to avoid Kamijou-sama for a while now."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, he saved me from that Graviton Bombing. I was thinking of a proper way to thank him." She smiled but immediately frowned afterwards. "No, that's not it." She thought about whether to tell Ruiko about what she'd found when she searched for Touma on the internet. Saten might already know but if she didn't, she wouldn't want to be the one to tell her first. "Do you… know about when he was a kid?"

"Oh…" Ruiko's expression faded to one of remembrance, perhaps sadness too. "You know about that stuff?"

"Yeah. I-I looked him up after we first met him."

"Huh? What happened to Touma?" Index spoke up, completely confused.

"When Touma was a kid, before he came to Academy City, a lot of things happened to him." Saten began as she went through a rundown of the events in Touma's life. From the stabbing to the TV show to his parent's deaths. Index was silent the whole time, absorbing that information.

"Wow… I wouldn't have guessed…" She murmured. "Touma…"

"I know. He's usually so happy." She smiled. "But that's what I like about him."

"Ah, so _you're _the one with a crush on him?" Uiharu teased.

"No, of course not." She was quick to defend. "We're friends, you know? I didn't mean like like…" She ran a hand through her hair. "But I still don't understand your problem, Uiharu." The petite, flower headed girl jumped as she remembered the reason they got on this subject in the first place.

"I just… I don't know how to talk to him knowing about it."

"Oh, I see." Ruiko nodded. "Just forget about it. If it doesn't bother Touma, it shouldn't bother you. The same goes for you, Index. I can see you thinking over there."

"A-Ah! I wasn't thinking about that though." Index waved her hands in front of her face.

"Oh, sorry then." She smiled.

"Thanks, Saten-san. Next chance I get, I'm going to thank him." She nodded confidently.

**Location: School District 7; Grandeur Bakery; Aogami Pierce's Apartment**

"Hey, Kami-yan, what's the answer to number 4?"

"I'm pretty sure it's B." Touma replied, annoying because this is how their conversation had been going since they'd returned to Aogami's place and started doing their homework. Kamijou also got the impression that the two other members of the Delta Force were only doing the homework because he was there to get the answers from.

"Thanks~! What about 5?"

"A." Of course, they'd be surprised to learn that he had just been saying random letters for the past 5 minutes. He couldn't help but grin mischievously.

And he couldn't help but cry when they somehow got higher marks on it than he did.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Outside A Certain High School**

**Date: July 19****th**

It was somewhat of a joke that they were finally given the address and keys to their new apartments on the last day of school. Though, he was happy that he didn't need supplementary lessons this year, he and Motoharu were neighbors again so he guessed that they assigned it based on the spots the students were in before. He supposed the first order of business was getting Index so she could join him, it was technically her new apartment too. He took out his phone and dialed Ruiko's number just to check if they were in her dorm or not. The sun was just about to start setting so he assumed that they would be, the streets got extra rowdy after dark.

"_Hello, Touma-kun._"

"Hey, Ruiko. I finally got the stuff for my new dorm." He shoved his other hand into his pocket. "Where are you and Index?" He knew the street that she told him, it seemed like they were heading for a bunch of mini-malls.

"_Huh?_"

"What's wrong?"

"_I just noticed something weird is all. The streets are pretty empty._" Empty? That was definitely weird. School had just let out for the semester and that street was typically crowded regardless. "_T-Touma!_"

"Hm?"

"_I-I think- M-Magician!_"

"What? A Magician? God- Today of all times!" He was running now. "Run, Ruiko. I'll be there when I can." He could hear Index yell '_Ruiko, move!_' before the line went dead.

_/Scene:_

He could feel that there was something wrong as he neared the street. Cars became less common, as did people. It was as if there was something telling them to not go in that direction. It was eerily silent once he'd past the last of the bystanders, he hoped that it was a good thing. No noise meant no fights, which meant that either the fighting was already over or hadn't begun yet.

"Ruiko!" He yelled. Even if it hadn't started yet, it would be a good idea to draw attention to himself. Of course, it was immediately after this that a strange sound filled the air. It was the sound of something being demolished, though not on a large scale. Turning, he headed in the direction of the noise and stopped at the scene before him.

Both Ruiko and Index were passed out, on the ground, their backs bloodied and their shirts torn. Along the ground were several slash marks, Kamijou counted seven. He walked over to them, strangely calm, until he saw the wounds. Both of their backs were sliced horizontally but it looked like Index's wound was much worse, perhaps she had pushed Ruiko almost out of range. Ruiko's cut wasn't shallow but it wasn't exactly life threatening either but Index's wound went deeper, exposing muscle and what appeared to be bone. It almost made Touma lose his lunch. If only his anger wasn't overcoming his feeling of nausea.

"Ah, you are the boy, right? Kamijou Touma. The One Who Purifies God and Exorcises the Devil. An excellent true name." A woman spook up, standing several meters ahead of Touma and his two, unconscious friends. Her voice was emotionless, though one could still not describe it as cold. She was wearing a white T-shirt that was tied up on her abdomen, which emphasized her breasts, and blue jeans that had one leg cut off. As opposed to the Flame Magician, her clothes were not that different from the norm. That was disregarding the two meter nodachi strapped to her side like a gun holster.

"Who are you?" His feet wanted to take a step back but he refused to let them.

"Kanzaki Kaori. I'd prefer not to give my other name."

"Your… Magic name?"

"Correct." She looked at the two girls. "I also apologize for their injuries. I did not intend to hit them." Though she was apologizing, her voice still lacked any emotion.

"Bullshit." He muttered back.

"It doesn't matter if you believe me or not." She put her hand on her sheathed blade. "I have only one goal. To secure the girl without mentioning my Magic name." This woman… she gave off a completely different feeling from Stiyl. With him, he had an air of confidence and dominance around him but Touma had felt such things before. And it was because he felt it before that he believed he could win.

But her… It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. Even though they were only looking at each other, Kamijou felt completely outclassed here. It sent a chill down his spine.

"And if I refuse?" He asked despite his apparent fear.

"Then I have no choice." In an instant, she was in front of Touma. His eyes widened as her leg was sent into his side, sending him spiraling towards the other end of the street. "I will retrieve her afterwards." She took a look behind her, at Index, then looked back at Touma. "I would prefer we not get her involved, if you really wish to do this."

Touma nodded as he staggered back up. "_Incredible…_" He clenched his right hand. "That's a good idea." He looked up at her and got into his stance. It didn't matter if he was outclassed or not. Not only had she hunted Index, she'd injured both her and Ruiko. He wouldn't let her get away with this. But there was a thought nagging him. He had to finish this quickly, otherwise they would bleed out. Their wounds were not small.

Her arms looked far too slender and weak to hold the blade as she pulled it into position. She began to unsheathe it and in an instant, the air above Touma's head was sliced apart. He blinked at the sudden attack, it was too fast. When his eyes opened again, Kanzaki's sword had returned to its place in her scabbard. He hadn't even been able to see the blade. He heard something break behind him and slam into the ground, though he would not turn around to look, that would expose him to an attack. They were already too quick for him to see. Should he be caught off guard as well…? It'd be over in an instant. No, even if he had been on his guard, it would be over. He was only standing because she missed on purpose, he knew that. He grit his teeth.

"Please stop this." Her tone did not change. "Ignoring my warnings will only lead to death. I only wish to secure the girl." There was no hesitation. Nothing seemed to imply that what she had just done was a remarkable feet.

"I have no reason to surrender to you." He dashed forward, he wasn't going down without at least trying.

"I'll ask as much as it takes." With a click, she drew her blade again. In a flash, asphalt, streetlights, the trees lining the street, were all sliced apart. A decently sized piece of asphalt slammed into Touma's right shoulder as he ran, instantly knocking him back. He held his shoulder as he looked around him.

One, two, three… seven. A grand total of seven slash marks laid on the ground. Just like the marks that were near Index and Ruiko. He heard the click of the nodachi being returned to its sheath.

"I want to secure the girl without stating my Magic name." She stated again. Kamijou was frustrated. That was seven slashes, seven attacks that he could not see. Anyone of them could've cut him in two and he wouldn't have even known until he hit the ground.

He couldn't see one slash but she'd made seven.

No, he only heard the sword be sheathed once. This had to be Magic. He still had a chance.

But he had to wonder. This woman who seemed so emotionless. Why had she not killed him already? Stiyl had no problem when he attacked. Why did she deliberately avoid killing him?

That being said, with her speed, she could easily grab Index and leave. Touma would be able to do nothing.

But she did neither of these things. Why?

Did she want to break his spirit?

Was this just a game to her?

"The speed of the Nanasen attack that my Shichiten Shichitou puts together is enough to kill you seven times over in the period of time known as an instant. People refer to this as an instant kill. Calling this a certain kill would not be far from the truth."

Touma stood up, still holding his right shoulder, and glared at the woman. "I'm not surrendering Index." He clenched his right fist so hard that it might break. Since this was Magic, all he had to do was touch it.

"Keep dreaming." She spoke, as if reading his thoughts. "Stiyl told me about your hand, that it can negate Magic for some reason. But that cannot save you here."

"I can't negate what I can't touch." He finished for her.

"So you aren't completely idiotic. Good." She silently grabbed the handle of her blade again. "Perhaps I can get through to you this time. I wish to secure the girl without giving my Magic name."

No, he could do this.

He could touch her slashes.

He could negate them.

He dashed forward.

"I don't know what drives you so much." She responded and began to unsheathe her sword.

"The attack in preparation is not Magical in nature." They both heard a voice and Touma instantly stopped. "It is a style typically utilized by Magicians with low Magical strength and became popularized in 18th century. To trick the opponent into believing that which is not Magical is Magical." The voice was even more emotionless than Kanzaki's, this voice could be described as cold and mechanical. But even with that, Touma could recognize it.

"Index…?" He blinked.

"Yes. I am the Grimoire library belonging to Necessarius, the 0th Parish of the Anglican Church. My proper name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum but that can be abbreviated to Index."

Kanzaki merely turned around to look at the now mechanical sounding library, with what could be called a frown on her face.

She hadn't been using Magic at all.

It was all a trap to make him think she was, and get caught in her attack.

But then what was it…?

He didn't have time to think as he dashed for Kanzaki again. He swung at her with his right fist but she simply tilted her head to avoid it. And kneed Kamijou in the stomach. He could taste blood as it sent him back several feet. He clutched his stomach as he struggled to say, "A-Are you not even a Magician?"

"I told you, Stiyl told me about your abilities."

He clenched his fist again.

"Do not think I am disguising a lack of ability behind a cheap trick. My wires." She told him and things seemed to click in place. He never saw her draw her sword because she never actually did. She was using the motion as a way to hide her manipulating wires.

He cursed at the difference in power between them.

"Beyond my Nanasen is the true Yuisen." He wanted to pick himself up but he was struggling. "Also I have yet to give my Magic name."

He stood up again, wobbling.

"Please do not make me give it, boy." She bit her lip. "I don't want to ever again."

"…As if I can give up." Ruiko and Index were still bleeding.

"What was that? I can't hear you?"

"Shut up, you damn robot!" He dashed at her again. A meaningless effort as the Shichiten Shichitou's scabbard struck him in the side of the face. He hit the ground, his shoulder crying in pain from repeated torture. He would've cried in pain as well if he didn't notice her foot coming down.

He rolled quickly, avoiding it.

"Nanasen."

Even though he knew it was useless, he held up his right hand. The attack, and the resulting rubble, tore into it and the rest of his body. He was not sliced to pieces as he should've been. Kanzaki held back and his body was only slashed viciously. For the first time, Touma could see the wires but only because they were red from his blood. That was it, he could no longer get back up.

Kanzaki walked to him.

"Surely that is enough." Though her voice was as emotionless as ever, her face betrayed it and displayed a look of pity, no, sadness. "Lasting even 30 seconds against one of the top ten Magicians in London is no small feat. She would not blame you if you gave in after this. There is no reason to go this far."

But that's when he realized that she wouldn't blame him.

And that gave him the strength to stand.

"Like hell there isn't." Kanzaki was shocked, so shocked that she took a step backwards. "Index is scared for her life. She's always been running, she's told me, she's always been so scared. Did you know that she can't sleep alone? Even in her sleep, she'll curl up next to me and stay there like she's afraid I'll leave by the morning if she doesn't." He should've been embarrassed saying this but he wasn't. Kanzaki took another step back. "You know how wrong this is. I can tell. You could've killed me a hundred, no, a thousand times over and taken her already. You don't want this. Why?"

He hated this situation.

He hated that he couldn't protect everything with the power that he held.

He hated how powerless he was compared to this woman.

He hated how she chased a girl around with the power that made him powerless.

"I…"

He hadn't noticed but with those sentences, he'd backed her into a corner.

"I don't want to do this." Emotion raged into her voice, the shock almost caused Touma to lose consciousness. It was so sad, so desperate. "I am from Necessarius of the Anglican Church, the same as Index. She is my colleague… and my precious friend."

Again, his consciousness almost flashed before his eyes.

"What…?"

"Do you honestly think a girl with no Magical power would be able to avoid us for so long?" Her voice was pained and almost weak, he almost couldn't recognize her as the woman who just destroyed him.

"…" Touma was speechless. If he remembered right, Index had been running away from them the whole year. Yet he, with the power to negate any supernatural force, hadn't lasted a week.

"She's a genius, yes. Being able to read and memorize a Grimoire, much less 103,000, is something no normal person can live through. But it is because of that that the higher ups do not treat her as normal. They are afraid of her. Everyone is."

"That doesn't excuse them from treating her like she's not a human." He countered. "Hunting her down like this…"

"That's true." Kanzaki admitted. "But her current specs are not like a normal humans."

"…?"

"Over 85% of Index's brain is consumed by the Grimoires. The remaining 15% is all she has left."

Touma questioned that, it didn't sound like it made much sense but there was something he wanted to know more.

"But… That doesn't explain why Index is running." He bit his lip. "She said she was being chased by a Magic Cabal after her 103,000 Grimoires."

With a bit of hesitation, Kanzaki said, "she was not lying to you. She doesn't remember anything. Not that we are from Necessarius, nor the reason she is being chased. She simply used her knowledge to fill the gaps. It is only natural for the holder of 103,000 Grimoires to assume that the Magicians chasing her are after the books."

"But how did she forget? She has perfect memory!" He wanted to shout but it didn't come out like one.

"She didn't forget. Technically, I erased them."

"What? Why!?"

"…We had to…" She paused. "She would've died if we didn't."

Kamijou's breath caught in his throat and he nearly fell over.

"Like I said, 85% of her brain is taken up by the memories of the 103,000 Grimoires." Kanzaki's shoulders trembled slightly. "She only has the remaining 15% to use like normal. If she continues to amass memories like a normal person, her brain will quickly burst. That's why we have to erase them every year."

"…That's bullshit…" Touma said after letting it sit in. Kanzaki's eyes widened.

"She isn't close enough to the cutoff point, is she!? You haven't seen her suffer when her brain gets too full! She gets a fever and cries! And yet, you can do nothing but erase that which gave her happiness!" She was about to start beating him again but he interrupted her.

"The brain doesn't work like that."

"What…?"

"Who told you that?" He took a step forward.

"The Church."

"The Church that's afraid of her. The one that wants to keep her in check?" He took another step. Kanzaki took one back.

"That's not…" She stuttered.

"I don't believe this one bit." He took another step. "You shouldn't either. This isn't true." Her fists tightened, it looked as if tears were beginning to gather in her eyes. This lie… This was why all of this was happening?

"What do you know!? Do you have any idea how it felt to hunt her down!? To become her enemies even though we loved her with all our hearts!?" She was in front of him again, her blade's scabbard impacting his stomach. Touma coughed out blood as he fell on his back. "Do we know how we felt as we saw her with you!? How we had to sully our own feelings to become that precious comrade's enemy!"

"But why?" He whispered. "Why did you become her enemies?"

"…We tried. Everything we could… We made new memories each time. We made new memories each time. We spent spring trying, we spent summer trying, we spent fall trying, and we spent winter trying! We promised to make memories so she would never forget and we made journals and photo album." She muttered. "But it didn't make a difference. We showed he and she would just apologize. No matter who you were to her, everything was set back to zero."

He could sympathize, he really could. Saying good bye to Index like that must've been worse than death, but to do it multiple times?

But it would be worse for Index, who was forced to go through it and then forget, only to unintentionally go down the same path again. "_How long has this been happening__,_" Touma couldn't help but wonder. But that was why they became her enemies. If she didn't have precious memories, losing them would matter less.

They did this to protect her.

But in the end, that didn't excuse what they put her through.

"To hell with that!" He screamed. "The only ones protected through this method are you! Index has gone through so much pain so that you two don't have to say goodbye. Do you seriously think I'll accept that!?"

"How dare you-! Do you know what I and Stiyl went through!? We didn't want to but we had to!" She yelled back, beating him with her sheath. His arms, his legs, his chest. "What else could we have done!?"

"I'm not sure." He grabbed a hold of her sheath somehow. "But this wasn't the way. It wasn't." Using strength from somewhere, he was not sure where, he used it as a crutch and picked himself up. "By giving her pleasant memories, better memories then the previous year, you would erase that fear of losing them." His words sounded overly idealistic, even to himself, but he didn't care.

"Do you honestly intend to continue fighting like that?" Kaori was legitimately confused. "Even if you did somehow defeat me, the entire Necessarius Church would be after you."

"I don't care. I would face the entire Church if I had to." He looked at her with piercing eyes. "And you should too."

"What?"

"Why do you have this power? To protect your comrades, right!" Kanzaki let go of her sheath, leaving it solely to Touma to lean on. "Why are you acting so powerless!? Why are you accepting the lies that Church gave you! There is a way better than this, even if I don't know what it is, that I can assure you!" She wanted to slam her sheath into him again, she really did but… what if he was telling the truth? Surely someone from the city of science, Academy City, would know. She clenched her fist and before Touma could get another word in, she was gone. As was her sheath. Even in the end, he couldn't keep up with her speed. He hit the ground again.

But it wasn't over. He struggled back to his feet and over to Index and Ruiko. He could not take Index to a hospital, she wasn't in Academy City legally. If he did, everything they worked for would be gone. It was too late for a hospital to help anyway.

But he could get Ruiko there, she had time. He dialed the hospital and told them where to find her then shut off his phone and pocketed it as he picked Index up and put her on his back. He staggered, and he hated leaving Ruiko behind like this, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Hey…" He said aloud.

"Warning: Chapter 2, Verse 6. The loss of the life force known as mana due to blood loss has exceeded a certain amount, so John's Pen is being forcibly awoken. …If the current situation persists, my body will lose the bare minimum of necessary life force and expire in about 25 minutes according to the international standard minute defined by the clock tower in London. It would be best if we acquired someone capable of constructing the necessary healing Spell." The cold voice from before spoke. He refused to address it as Index, even in his head.

"Wait, please. Can you lead the spell if I take you to someone?"

"I could."

"Then bear with until then."

He recalled the fact that Espers could not use magic, their bodies would fail. There were few students in Academy City that were not Espers but no teacher was an Esper. And there was only one teacher he trusted enough with this.

By the time he made it to Komoe's apartment building, no matter how many times he saw it, he felt it really clashed with her twelve year old appearance though he would never tell her that, the sky had darkened a considerable amount.

"Komoe-sensei! It's Kamijou!" He yelled to get her attention, though it was weak and raspy, as he rang the doorbell. He'd kicked her door one too many times in the past, he could feel the pain just from thinking about it. Or was that from Kanzaki's strikes?

"Ah! Kamijou-chan, I'll be right there!" She called then opened the door moments later. "Kamijou! What happened to Index-chan? And you're injured too!"

"I'll explain in a minute." He walked in, even now she always got nervous and tried to stop him from entering her home. It never worked. Thinking about it that way, wasn't he technically entering a home without permission. "Sensei, you've really got to clean up sometime…" He muttered as he sat Index down on one of the few clean spots he could find, he flopped down immediately afterward. Her room was covered with beer cans, depleted cigarettes and cigarette holders and just miscellaneous papers.

She puffed out her cheeks. "I wasn't expecting visitors today, Kamijo-Oh!" She nearly screamed as she actually caught sight of Index's wound. "W-What? Kamijou-chan!"

"Index, I need you to explain to Sensei how to use the spell." He spoke as he picked himself back up.

"Understood." Index, herself, sat up as well. Her eyes so void and her voice so cold that she barely seemed human; she also seemed to not care that her wound still bleeding.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"There is not. The best option would be for you to leave." He winced at that remark but understood it. He turned to Tsukuyomi.

"Sensei, I'm going to keep this quick. I need you to speak to her and do exactly what she says, I'm going to find a payphone and get an ambulance, okay?"

"Uh, o-okay, Kamijou-chan but I have a phone he-" She didn't get to finish as he walked out of the door and closed it. She frowned but then turned to face Index.

Touma stood outside Komoe's door for a moment before falling down and laying his head against the door, careful not to make a noise. He pulled out his cellphone and sent Ruiko a text, explaining what had happened, and where they were, for when she woke up. With that last task accomplished, he closed his eyes and finally allowed himself to pass out.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Komoe's Apartment**

Komoe stared down at Touma's unconscious figure on her futon, she had nowhere else to put him. After that very strange occurrence with Index and that angel, she would ask the foreigner about that when she woke up, she stepped outside for some fresh air and had been utterly shocked to see Touma laying out in front of her door. It had taken a lot to pull him inside but she managed. She also found it strange that the Index, who she'd set up a blanket for an hour before, had somehow moved over into the futon with Kamijou. Though she was mostly jealous.

She shook her head furiously, trying her best to get that feeling out her head. "_I'm his teacher. These thoughts are entirely inappropriate!_" She reminded herself in her head. Her cheeks were darker than her hair and they only got worse as Index snuggled closer to him.

Taking a chance, and throwing caution to the wind, she quietly crawled over the unconscious boy and settled down. She slightly giggled at his warmth and got close, eventually closer her eyes.

This was her house, her rules, after all.

It wasn't like anyone would know anyway.

She was sure she would wake up before both of them.

No one had to know about this.

Though, unbeknownst to her or anyone really, Aogami Pierce suddenly had the urge to kill Touma.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Hospital**

**Date: July 20****th**

"S-Saten-san, what happened!?" Uiharu Kazari sat on a chair near Saten Ruiko's bedside. The latter wore a normal hospital robe but it had various bandages wrapped around her underneath.

"I got caught up in a fight, no real biggie." She tried to play it off.

"No real biggie! You're seriously hurt!" Her friend cried.

"Come on, Uiharu. That frog faced doctor said I'd be okay." Ruiko pat Kazari's shoulder. "I'll be up and out in no time."

"Can you promise me you won't be this careless again?"

"Of course!" She nodded. "I think I need a little more rest though."

"Ah, right." Uiharu stood up. "I'll visit you again tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright." They smiled at each other before Uiharu left the room, closing the door behind her. Ruiko sank down into her bed and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She looked over the message Touma sent her again.

_-Kamijou Touma_

_We're okay! At Tsukuyomi-sensei's house. Get better soon._

She felt utterly useless. As usual. She hadn't even seen whatever attack hit her, and Index had pushed her out of the way too.

She looked at the small, lucky charm that she had attached to her phone by a string. It brought back a strange memory, one from before she came to Academy City. It wasn't strange in the fact that the events were weird, or that the actual event differed. It was weird in the fact that she could not picture her mother's face at all. She always shrugged it off, however, since she knew her mom's face now but it bothered her a lot as a kid.

"_Here, a good luck charm."_

"_That's so unscientific!"_

"_Just because you can't explain something doesn't mean it's not real." She smiled then. She couldn't see her face but Ruiko could tell. "Just keep that with you, okay? One day, we'll meet again and you can return it to me, okay?"_

"_Okay."_

"_Promise?"_

"_Promise." And then she had left her there. At the wall of Academy City with no one but herself. It was an hour before the guard found her._

Ruiko always wondered why she'd given it to her before she left. Even then, she was useless. That's why they dropped her off at Academy City. They didn't have room for her in their family. Not then, anyway.

If only she had an ability… Then she wouldn't be so powerless; she wouldn't need to rely on people like this. She could hold her own and protect people with her own power. She cycled through the items on her phone and stopped at the entry titled 'Level Upper.' She took her earplugs off the table stand and connected them to the phone then put them in her ears and let it play.

She'd be useful.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Family Restaurant**

Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto were meeting with one Kiyama Harumi, the woman who they hoped to get to help them solve the Level Upper case. Also known on Academy City's rumor boards under the title of 'Stripper Lady.'

"Level Upper, huh?" She took a sip of her drink. "What kind of system is that?"

"We aren't sure yet…" Kuroko admitted.

"But you guys think that it might be related to the students going comatose?" She wanted to confirm. "Is that your line of reasoning?"

"Yes."

"So why are you asking me about this?"

"There's a high chance that augmenting Esper powers involves a brain interference system of some sort." Kuroko explained. "That's why, if we found Level Upper, I was hoping a specialist like yourself would help us analyze it."

"I feel like I should be asking you this." She replied, honestly. "This interests me, as a brain physiologist." She turned her head to look out of the window. "By the way, this has been bothering me for a while but is that your friend?"

Mikoto and Kuroko both turned their hands and saw a waving Uiharu, though how long she was waving was anyone's guess.

Naturally, they invited her in. She was a member of Judgment too.

"Wow, a brain specialist?" She marveled after they explained the situation to her. "Could it be that there's something wrong with Shirai-san's brain?" She asked only to have Kuroko grind her knuckles into her head.

"We were asking about Level Upper, actually." She said, dryly.

"Kuroko was saying that they'd be bringing people who possess Level Upper into protective custody." Mikoto finished with a sip of her drink.

"Huh? Why?" She tilted her head to the side.

"As it is, we believe it may have something to do with the students who have fallen comatose but it's still under review." Kuroko crossed her arms. "But there's also the possibility that the user could suffer other side effects that we haven't seen yet." With a sigh and a look of annoyance, she also said, "and it's become clear that they have a tendency to commit crimes."

"Hm. I wouldn't use a few Espers actions to speak for them all but I can see where you're coming from…" Uiharu admitted.

"Ah!" Kiyama silently yelled, causing the other three girls to look at her. She'd spilled her drink. "It's a good thing it only got on my stockings…" She murmured as she got up and began taking them off, to the horror of Kazari and Mikoto, whose faces reddened greatly.

"I thought I told you not to strip in public!" Kuroko was quick to teleport out of the box seat and next to Kiyama.

"But I don't think there are any guys who'd be turned on by a curve less body like mine…"

"People have different tastes!" She yelled. "And even barring men, some women have twisted passions too! And let me remind you that the only naked body my Onee-sama needs to see if my own!"

"Kuroko!"

"Ah, yes, my Onee-sama?" She asked, sweetly, fully aware of her mistake. Of course, being aware of it wouldn't stop her from being zapped.

_/Scene:_

"Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to speak with us." Kuroko bowed.

"The pleasure's mine. It reminded me of my time as an instructor." She smiled at the three. "It was fun."

"You were a teacher?"

"A long time ago." And with a wave, she walked away from them.

"How do I put this…?" Kuroko began once she was out of ear shot. "She feels like a kind of weird person."

"Weirder than you?" Uiharu asked with an innocent smile on her face, which only got a frown and a groan from Shirai.

"We should head back to the office."

"It's not much but we should compile the data we have." Kazari added.

"Which means we'll be heading back to the branch now. I'll see you back at the dorms, Onee-sama~" Kuroko smiled as Mikoto nodded.

_/Scene: _Ending Phase: 「Oración」

_Author's Note: If you hadn't noticed already, Kuroko's a bit 'turned down' from how she is in the anime. It's a little more like her depiction in the Light Novels, I think. Either way, I can assure you that her affections for her Onee-sama still remain._

_Stiyl and Kanzaki's fights aren't all that changed from how they occurred in canon, I was actually looking at them for references sake, but I can assure you that future fight scenes will be a lot more different. This was basically a test to see how well I can handle serious fight scenes and I think it went rather well. _

_In other news, I think this size has become the norm. Aaaaah how did this happen!?_


	6. JUST OUT OF REACH

_Author__'s Note: Ooh, this one's going to be fun. There'll be a lot of foreshadowing for future events in this chapter, at least I'm pretty sure there will '_

_Aaaaaaaaaand there's a surprise planned at the end~ It's something that I had in mind since I started this fic, started the idea of it even. _

_I won't spoil whether or not it's good or bad~_

_AND ALSO, I combined chapter's 2 and 3. Not just because they were the two shortest chapters but also because I felt that they should be. They're the same event spread over two chapters, is what I'm getting at. _

_Plus, I'm updated early because I'm not sure I could update any other day this week and I don't want to miss one since I've been maintaining this schedule pretty well, if I do say so myself. That being said, I might miss next week's update, which would conclude this arc. So if I do end up missing it, I apologize. If not then I was just being a worrywart over nothing._

_Skullkidwil: Thank you!_

_just a dude who reads alot: Thanks! This is a little different from my normal writing style to better match the light novel's side, yeah. _

_Agent Nine: I feel the same way. QQ Also thank you, that's good to hear! _

_FoxOnPie: Oh drat, I can't believe I let that slip by me. It should be corrected by the time this goes up though~. _

_Guest: I'm the only one who can answer that and yet I cannot!_

_No-One: I'm glad that you're enjoying the story! I think part of the reason they mesh so well is that, well, they were intended to be a part of the same universe from the start._

_/Scene:_ Opening Phase: 「Daze」

Chapter 6: Memories Just Out of Reach

**Location: School District 7**

**Date: July 21st**

Saten Ruiko walked along a path, alone. The stitches in her back ached a little, she had only just checked out of the hospital that morning after all, but she ignored it. She frowned, gripping the phone in her hand tightly. She felt no noticeable change from Level Upper.

Concentrate as she might, she could still do nothing.

And it bothered the hell out of her. That was why she was walking, to clear her thoughts.

"_Maybe it's not the real Level Upper._" She theorized. After all, this was just an audio file. How was that supposed to improve an Esper's level anyway? "_But then…_" She raised her hand and looked at her phone.

"Ruiko!" A female's voice caught her attention. She turned her head, looking at three girls who also went to her school, and were also Level 0s like herself. "Hey, over here!"

"Akemi? Muu-chan? And Mako-chin too?"

They talked for a while, it had been some time since they'd all met up, and decided to continue their walk together.

"So, Ruiko." Akemi started. "What're you doing here all alone? Usually, you're with Uiharu." She paused, as if for tension. "Though word around the school was that you've been seen with a certain high school boy a lot too."

"They were talking about that in school!? You're kidding." She groaned. Akemi giggled.

"Afraid not. Who's the mystery boy, huh?" She poked her.

"He's just a friend."

"Right, right. That's what they all say."

"Seriously!"

"What _are_ you doing here though, Ruiko?" Muu cut in.

"Nothing really. Just walking around." She admitted. "How about you guys?"

"We were studying and trying to finish our summer homework early at the library." Akemi placed her hands on her hips. "We don't have any powers so we have to study hard."

"Though, have you heard?" They all stopped. "About that Level Upper thing?"

"What's that?"

"Oh!" Mako had heard about it a few times before. "It increases your power or something like that, right?" She placed her hands behind her head.

"Yeah, yeah. They say you can have it if you hand over your money."

"I don't have money like that." Mako snapped.

"Ah, guys…" Ruiko turned to them. "I… I've gotten a hold of it." If it didn't work with them, then she'd know for sure if what she had was fake or not.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Park**

Ruiko sat on a bench as she watched Akemi concentrate on Mako, sweat dripping down her face. And that's when it happened. Mako flew straight up into the air, as if suspended on invisible wires. Ruiko and Muu looked on in awe, and perhaps a bit of anger on Ruiko's part. Akemi smiled brightly and dropped her hands, inadvertently dropped Mako.

"Haha, wow! It really works!" She turned around and faced Ruiko. "Did you see that, Ruiko!?" The black haired girl nodded solemnly. "Ruiko?"

"Akemi!" Mako's eyes flashed as she latched onto the newly psychic's back. "What's the big idea dropping me like that!?"

"Ah, hey!"

Ruiko clenched her fists.

This wasn't fair.

Why did it work on Akemi but not her?

She'd heard it first.

She was the one who found it and showed it to them.

She put her own arms out in front of her, closed her eyes, and concentrated. She didn't know what she was trying to do but she just concentrated. She felt something swell up within her, something different from how she usually felt.

"A-Ah! R-Ruiko, is this you!?" She heard Akemi shout and she instantly opened her eyes. Not only was Akemi suspended in mid-air, but so were Mako and Muu.

"H-How'd you get this good!?" Mako shouted. "I bet you used it before you gave it to us, huh!?" Ruiko dropped them. "Again!?"

Despite the light brown haired girl's apparent anger, Ruiko smiled.

She did it. She had a power.

She'd become an Esper.

She nearly cried.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Judgment Branch 177 Office**

"This might sting a little." Uiharu Kazari warned as she dabbed a wad of cotton, which had some type of alcohol soaked in, to Shirai Kuroko's wounds. "Jeez, you're getting more and more scraps every day."

"I can't help it. The number of Level Upper users keep increasing." She turned her head to face the Level 1. "Whining also won't get us anywhere. Especially not to our three goals."

"Preventing the spread of Level Upper users," Kazari started for her. "Recovery of the comatose users."

"And finding out who created Level Upper, placed it on the Internet and for what intentions." Shirai finished as Kazari placed a bandage on her arm.

"Put your arms up." The flower-headband girl instructed and Shirai did. "We'll finish tending your wounds first, of course." Shirai nodded as she wrapped more bandages around her chest. "Wouldn't you prefer it if Misaka-san was the one bandaging you?"

"No. I would never allow Onee-sama to see me in such a state."

"That's fine, nobody wants to see." She said, almost too innocently. Kuroko's face instantly tensed, she'd fallen for one of Uiharu's traps yet again. Standing up and grabbing ahold of Kazari's shirt, Kuroko began to shake her.

"Now you listen here…"

"Heya!" They both heard Mikoto speak up right before she opened the door. "Is there anything I can do-?"

Shirai panicked and did the first thing she could think of. She teleported the shaken Uiharu directly above her Onee-sama. Both their heads knocked against each other as they yelled and fell while Kuroko quickly grabbed her undershirt and put it on.

"G-Good day, Onee-sama!" She greeted with a smile on her face, acting completely oblivious to the two near unconscious girls.

_/Scene:_

Now sporting a bandage on her forehead, Mikoto sat on a chair and faced the two Judgment. "So are you two getting anywhere in your investigation?"

"Well…" Uiharu played with her hands and looked down.

"According to Kiyama-sensei, there's a special apparatus for inputting large amounts of data into the brain in a short time period called a Testament." Kuroko crossed her arms. "But it does so by acting on all five senses. It's impossible for Level Upper to work like that."

"Right. Level Upper is music software, so it only acts on hearing…" Mikoto recalled.

"When we searched the comatose victim's rooms, we didn't find anything but the music…" Kazari turned her head when she heard the tea pot, which she had set up a while ago, hiss. "Oh, excuse me."

"This is only a guess." Misaka looked down. "But is there the possibility that the music itself could be having an effect on the other senses?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember that conversation we had yesterday?" She questioned while Kuroko thought back.

"Synesthesia!" They both yelled as Kazari walked back into the room, tea on a tray, and looking rather confused.

"What?"

"Synesthesia." Kuroko explained. "It's a phenomenon where multiple senses are stimulated using a single stimulus."

"By acting on one sense in a certain way, you can also stimulate the others."

"So you think the music works by acting on all five senses to get the same effect of a Testament?" Kazari summarized. She was quick to call Kiyama and tell her what they'd discovered. While she was at it, she also arranged to visit Kiyama since there was the possibility of Tree Diagram being used to calculate if using music with synesthesia could give an effect similar to Testament.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Komoe's Apartment**

**Date: July 22****nd**

Saten Ruiko rang the doorbell and waited patiently, for perhaps only a full 30 seconds. She slammed her foot into the door, immediately cringing and grabbing ahold of the now injured appendix.

"Hello?" The petite teacher greeted her upon opening the door, apparently oblivious to the pain her door had caused. It was more likely that she knew full well what had happened and yet choose to ignore it though.

"Huh? Uh, is your mom home?" She wasn't aware that Touma's teacher had children but apparently she did.

"My mom?" She tilted her head to side. "I'm afraid my mother doesn't live in Academy City."

"What? This is the residence of Tsukuyomi Komoe, correct?"

"Present." She smiled.

"Wait… _You're _Touma-kun's teacher!?" The pink haired girl, no, woman nodded.

"Yes." She seemed grim despite her smiling face and the air around them seemed to reflect that. "You wouldn't have happened to think that I was a child, would you?"

"_I-I can feel how loaded that question is!_" Ruiko thought as she fumbled for words. "Of course not, I just thought that you were too sma-" The air grew more intense. "-cute to be a teacher."

"Oh, don't say things like that. You'll make sensei blush." She giggled, the tense atmosphere lost. "But you must be the friend Index-san talked about if you're here to see Kamijou-chan. Come in." Ruiko still had a hard time believing she was over 12, much less a high school teacher. Nevertheless, Ruiko followed her inside.

"Ruiko!" Index waved at her from the bedroom, the door was open. If she was paying attention to it, Ruiko would've noticed that Index was wearing some on Komoe's clothes. They were a kind of tight fit, to Komoe's eternal embarrassment, but they were sufficient enough.

"Index, hey." She waved back while looking around the, admittedly, small apartment. "Where's Touma-kun?" The foreigner's face dropped.

"He's…" She mumbled then turned back to the unconscious boy. It had been about three days now. He was still alive, that much was for certain, but he wouldn't wake up for more than a couple minutes at a time. At the very least, they'd treated his wounds.

"Asleep?" She finished for her. "That sounds like him." Ruiko gave a fake laugh as she walked in and sat down next to Index. There was only room to do so because Komoe had long since made her room presentable, since she had guests.

"It's been days…"

"Days!?" She whipped her head to face Index.

"He'll wake up every now and then but it won't be long before he loses consciousness again." She explained. "He really… doesn't seem awake when he is up though. He says some really strange things…"

"Strange things?"

"Hey now, don't crowd around Kamijou-chan." The teacher warned. "He'll feel really awkward if he wakes up to two girls sitting in front of him."

"Why would he feel awkward?" Index asked, honestly. "It's not like I don't feed him or clean him or change his bandages." Ruiko suppressed her laughter.

"_Touma would die if he woke up when she was doing that._"

"Ah, yes that's true but Kamijou is a nice boy." She reminded her. "And he's not very well versed in girl's matters. Though, I will admit, the situation would be worse if he woke up when you were doing any of those things…"

"I wouldn't take you for someone well versed in taking care of other people, though, Index." Ruiko muttered, Index puffed her cheeks out.

"I am a Sister, you know!"

"Right, right, I forgot." She stuck her tongue out.

"Well, can you two watch the house? Sensei's about to go out grocery shopping." She smiled at the two as she walked to the door.

"Okay, Sensei. Me and Index'll take care of it!" Ruiko shot her a thumbs up as she opened the door.

"Huh? What are you two doing in front of my house?" They heard her say. Both of them stood and went to the door way, Index paled.

The Magicians, Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori, were standing behind Komoe-sensei.

"Oh? Do you two know them?" She turned her head back to them, apparently not noticing the look of fear on Index's face, then looked forward. "I won't intrude then. I'll be back in a little while." She pushed past the two Magicians effortlessly, it seemed like they didn't want anyone else involved either.

"You." Ruiko growled, remembering the swordswoman as the one who slashed her back two days ago. Stiyl stepped into the house a little and smirked, tilting his head to the side to take a glance into Komoe's room.

"Ah, you can't run away with the boy like that, can you?" He chuckled.

"Just go away!" Index yelled as she stood up. She walked through the doorway, and stood between them and Ruiko. "I beg you! I'll go anywhere, do anything. Just don't hurt Touma anymore!"

"Index…" Ruiko wanted to reach out to the girl but couldn't. There wasn't anything physical or Magical like an invisible wall. She just felt like she couldn't. The Flame Magician's smile seemed to vanish, baring a sad, sad look before it was covered up with a bigger smile.

"I just wanted to check and see if things were going well." He turned around. "But it seemed I had no reason to. The anchor's working better than expected." He walked out as Ruiko paled. They were using Touma's injuries to their advantage. Index wouldn't run without him, not if they knew who and where he was. She clenched her fist and stood up.

"There are two days." The swordswoman spoke up, still standing in front of the door. "When Kamijou wakes up, tell him there are only two days left." She followed Stiyl. Index took a deep breath and Ruiko snapped. She ran past Index, ignoring her cry for her afterwards, and jumped over the railing.

"Stop!" She spread her hands out and looked at the two Magicians.

"Eh? Who're you?" Stiyl raised an eyebrow then turned to Kanzaki.

"Is that?"

"Yes. It's the girl who was with Index that time." She nodded.

"Why're you here?" He faced her again. Ruiko pushed her hands towards them and tried to use her power again, just like she had on Akemi, Muu and Mako. She wouldn't just sit around and let this happen. Her power wasn't developed to the point where it was useful in battle, she wasn't sure if her ability was useful period actually, but she had to do something.

She figured if she showed off any amount of power that it would make them reconsider.

If they were facing two people with super natural abilities, then perhaps they would let it go.

But nothing happened. Her power didn't activate.

Before she could even question why, she gasped as all the air was knocked from her lungs. She grabbed her stomach and collapsed to her knees in pain, as she looked up and saw Kaori.

"Stay out of this. You have no power, you cannot affect the outcome." She said, emotionless. "I would prefer it if no more people got hurt in this situation." She turned her back to the black haired girl and walked away.

"You're too kind, Kanzaki." She heard the priest mutter.

"Ruiko!" Index yelled from the railing, having watched the whole thing. Ruiko just stayed here and cried. Again, her power didn't work.

Why didn't it?

Especially when she needed it most.

Was she just doomed to be this useless?

To have a meaningless existence?

"_You cannot affect the outcome._" That's what the swordswoman had said. She couldn't take it. She stood up and ran in the other direction, away from the Magicians, away from Index, away from Touma, away from everything.

"Ruiko!" Index yelled again. "Where are you going!?"

She didn't look back.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Park**

She had to take a break, eventually, however. She was out of breath and her wound had begun aching again. She stopped in the same park she first used her power. She sat down on the bench she watched Akemi use her ability and took deep breaths. Closing her eyes and putting her head against the top of the bench, she watched the sky.

"_Why didn't it work…_?" She asked herself again. More than anything, she wanted her power to work. So she could fight those Magicians and save Touma and Index. So she could actually _do _something for once.

"Ruiko!" The same voice from yesterday knocked her out of her thoughts.

"Akemi?" Ruiko brought her head back and almost jumped. Akemi's face was right in front of her own.

"Did you have the same idea we had?" The other girl tilted her head at her.

"Huh?"

"We're here to practice again!" She smiled and stepped back.

"Oh. I'll just watch then." Saten muttered.

"Oh you're no fun." She put her hands on her hips. "Didn't you enjoy lifting us all up yesterday?" She had, truth be told. But what if she couldn't get her power to work again? Would Akemi and the others laugh at her or pity her? She didn't want either of those things, honestly.

"I'm fine." Ruiko assured her. With a shrug, Akemi went to join Muu and Mako, who were already lifting random things with their abilities. In the meanwhile, Ruiko took another look at her phone. "_I wonder if I should tell Uiharu… She'll probably be mad at me but…_"

_Bump._

She quickly looked up and spotted Akemi, now on the ground.

"Akemi!"

"Akemi-chan!" Muu and Mako quickly raced over to her. Ruiko stood up, in disbelief.

"What's going…?"

"_Level Upper…_" She suddenly remembered Uiharu telling her about a lot of students falling comatose recently. "Akemi!" She ran over to her too.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7**

Uiharu Kazari was sitting at a bus stop, about to go meet with Kiyama Harumi. The research into Level Upper hadn't gone all that well, though Kiyama had said that they might be onto something since they discovered that you could use synesthesia to simulate a Testament. This was a major breakthrough, of course, and could open up the way to awaken those who had fallen comatose.

She was so caught up in the possibilities that she was alarmed when her phone rang. She checked her caller ID and a smile found its way on her face as she saw it was Saten Ruiko.

"Saten-san! I was worried about you!" She said, cheerily. "You're not talking much in school and you aren't answering my calls!"

"…_collapsed…_"

"Huh?"

"_Akemi-chan suddenly collapsed._"

"What? W-What happened?" It dawned on her. "R-Ruiko, did she-?"

"_I… I didn't know that's what happened to Level Upper users…_"

"Saten-san…"

"_Why did it come to this…?_" Ruiko sounded like she was on the verge of crying. "_I didn't mean to… I just wanted to…_"

"Saten-san." She held the phone with both her hands. "Please tell me everything from the beginning, slowly."

"_I got a hold of Level Upper… I didn't tell you guys because I wanted it to be a surprise, that I got powers._" She began. "_But I couldn't do anything. But when Akemi and the others said they wanted it…_"

"Saten-san!" Kazari screamed. "Tell me where you are right now!"

"_Am I going to collapse too?_" Kazari started running. "_Will I wake up again?_"

"Saten-san!"

"_I didn't like being so powerless._" She whimpered. "_But I couldn't give up on my dreams. I wanted to do things, help people._"

"Saten-san, please! Tell me where you are!"

"_Are Level 0s defective, I wonder…_?"

"What?" She stopped.

"_And because a zero like me tried to get power by cheating… Is this my punishment…?_" Kazari could hear Ruiko start crying. "_I was so jealous… I even dragged other people into it. I…_"

"It's alright!" She nearly yelled in her cheerful tone. "Even if you fall asleep, I'll wake you right back up." Her smile nearly faltered but she continued. "Saten-san and Akemi-san and everyone else." She raised up her fist. "So just leave it all to me! I bet you'll be like 'just 5 more minutes,' like normal, right?"

People began to stare at her as she screamed but disregarded it afterwards, she didn't particularly mind anyway.

"_Uiharu…_"

"You are not defective! Whether or not you had powers, you were always there to help me." She wasn't sure when she started but she was crying now too. "So no matter what, you are you! Because you're my friend!" She wiped away her tears but they just kept coming. "So don't… so don't… say such sad things…"

"_Hearing you say 'leave it to me' is just a little bit…_" Ruiko laughed.

"A-Ah, it's not just me!" Uiharu yelled back, her face red. "It's Misaka-san and Shirai-san and lots of other amazing people!"

"_Yeah… I know. Thank you, Uiharu._" She paused. "_I'm sorry for always causing you trouble… I'll leave the rest to you._"

Ruiko hung up and Kazari began running again. She ran and she ran and she ran until she eventually came to Saten's dormitory. Nearly stumbling and falling down the stairs didn't deter her and she quickly made it to, and opened, Ruiko's door, she had long since gotten a spare key for it.

She nearly started crying again as she spotted Ruiko passed out, her lucky charm in her hand.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Hospital**

"To think that Saten-san…" Misaka didn't let herself finish as she sat outside one of the rooms of District 7's hospital.

"Yeah. Uiharu said that she'd analyze the data to save her and then rushed off." Kuroko told her, sitting next to her. "She intends to meet with Kiyama-sensei as soon as possible."

"I see." Mikoto muttered. "You have a sec?" Kuroko tilted her head in response but Mikoto led her up to the roof anyway.

"Onee-sama?" She questioned at the Railgun simply looked off the building's side, past the large fence that prevented anyone from jumping off.

"You know, Saten-san probably had a lot she wanted to talk about." She said aloud as she intertwined her fingers in the fence. "But even with my Level 5 powers, I could do nothing for her."

"Onee-sama… You can't…"

"Whenever I've faced hurdles in my life, I stopped at nothing to overcome them. I guess that's why I'm a Level 5." Her gaze hardened. "I never thought of it as anything special. Never thought of the people who were unable to climb over those hurdles while I never even considered the possibility." She turned her head to face her. "Your level doesn't mean a thing, huh? Thinking back on that, it was really insensitive of me to say." She was quiet.

"I want to participate in the investigation." She eventually said. "I want to help save Saten-san."

"Got it." Kuroko could only smile.

"Thanks." She placed a hand on Kuroko's shoulder and raised an eyebrow when she winced. "Huh?"

"It's nothing, nothing!" So Misaka shrugged it off as they headed back downstairs, to leave.

"Hey, you two have a minute?" Someone interrupted them. Upon turning around, Mikoto's face took on a… complex expression, to say the least.

"Real Gekota!?" She muttered out loud, probably not on purpose.

"Ah, no, Onee-sama…" The doctor who'd stopped them could only raise his eyebrows in amusement.

"_Gekota? That's a first._"

_/Scene:_

He brought them to a dark room, the name plaque near the door seemed to say that it was his office, and showed them the computer he had set up. He cycled through several charts.

"These are the brain waves of the Level Upper users." He told them. "As I'm sure you two know, every individual has a different brainwave. So it's impossible for two to be the same, right?"

"Of course." Mikoto crossed her arms, a bit bummed out that it wasn't a real Gekota. Not that she would let anyone know.

"However, I'm noticing a common brainwave pattern on the users of Level Upper."

"What do you mean?" Kuroko asked.

"If brainwaves are forcibly altered, it would strongly influence the body, right?"

"So you're saying Level Upper is changing their brainwaves and rendering them unconscious?"

"Who would do this…? And why?"

"I'm a doctor." He responded, turning around in his chair. "Finding that out is your job, right?"

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Judgment Branch 177 Office**

The two of them quickly went back to the branch office and informed Konori of the situation.

"I see." She nodded. "If that's the case, we'll most likely get Bank access."

"That's assuming it's a student, right?" Mikoto brought up. "What if it's not there?"

"Don't worry," Kuroko assured her. "It's not just students. It also includes data from adults who've been at the hospital or worked in Academy City."

"But why would Level Upper be used to cause people's brainwaves to become identical?"

"Not to mention, raise their Esper Levels…" Kuroko rubbed the back of her head. "I really don't understand this."

"Just using software isn't going to give any great performance gains, for a computer anyway." Konori suddenly spoke up, still looking through the databank. She began to tell them about how when you networked computers, while each individual computation performance didn't increase, the overall performance did.

"I see… So someone could've created a brainwave network using Level Upper? But how would they connect the brains together?"

"The only thing I can think of is AIM Fields…"Konori admitted. "Espers are always subconsciously admitting power. If you could connect that…"

"But that's only subconsciously. Our brains are like separate OS's, in computer terms, you can't link them together." Her eyes widened. "Unless…!"

"Yes. Computers are the same way. While the OS, and even the languages, they use are different, they can connect through common protocols."

"You're saying that that specific person's brainwaves serve as the common protocol then?" Kuroko interjected.

"It's just a possibility but that's exactly what I'm thinking."

"And if you link up brains like that, you'd have massive computational power." Mikoto figured out, putting her hand to her chin. Konori nodded.

"Even if a person with weak power joined the group, their overall processing power would go up."

"On top of that, Espers with the same abilities would link up their cognitive patterns and even use that power more efficiently."

"Most likely, the brain power of all the victims is being utilized in the network." She clicked one last key. "Found it! A match for that brainwave percent is… 99%" Both Kuroko and Mikoto leaned in and their eyes widened.

"Wait…"

"Isn't that…?"

"Kiyama Harumi!" They looked at each other.

"Uiharu!"

**Location: School District 7; Komoe's Apartment **

Touma sat straight up, his face filled with sweat. He'd had that dream again. It only took him a moment to recognize the place he was in as Komoe's apartment.

"Touma?" He turned his head and saw Index sitting at his side. "You're awake!" She smiled. He looked out the window and noticed it was still dark out.

He thought about the last thing that he could remember. He lost to Kanzaki, yes he counted that as a loss even though she ran away, and made it here to allow Komoe-sensei to heal Index. Speaking of Komoe, it didn't appear that she was inside at the time. Perhaps she had gone out for something.

He laid back down.

"Jeez, it's still night time?" He muttered. "I thought I'd, at least, get a day's worth of sleep." He didn't question why he was a lot more awake than usual, even though he only slept a few hours.

"You did."

"Huh?"

"It's been about 3 days, Touma."

"EH!? How did I manage to sleep for 3 days!?" He tried to move. "Ow, ow!"

"Touma, calm down, please."

"Don't you think you went a little overboard with these bandages, jeez!?"

"It would've been better if we could've used Magic…" She muttered.

"That may be so but I'd rather not use anything like Magic."

"Anything like? Do you still somehow not believe in Magic!?" She crossed her arms. "You're as stubborn as someone with an unrequited love."

"No, no, I believe in Magic. It'd be hard not to after everything that's happened." He began to explain. "It's just that… I don't like the face you make when you talk about Magic." Her empty face and cold eyes flashed across his memory and almost made him shudder.

"Do you not like explanations?"

"Don't you remember? You helped me during the fight against that swordswoman's wires, and you told me to take you to someone who could perform the healing Spell." He recalled. "It really wasn't nice… You were almost… like a puppet."

"Oh, I see. I awakened…"

"Awakened?" He didn't like how that made it seem like that cold, puppet-like form was the real her.

"Yes but please don't tell me about what I'm like when I awake." She paused, perhaps waiting for him to ask why but he never did. "It's embarrassing, like talking in your sleep. Also… I feel like I'm becoming more and more of a machine when I do and it scares me." She smiled, as if not to worry him.

"…I'm sorry."

"It's okay, idiot." She stood up. "I'll be out of your hair soon, anyway." She said rather quickly then said. "Are you hungry?"

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Hm?" She put on an innocent face. She should've known not to say that in front of him. She knew he wouldn't let it go. So why had she? Did she still want him to save her, despite the pain it would bring? She didn't want to think she was that selfish.

"Don't act stupid." He said, plainly. "What happened while I was asleep?"

"…The Magicians came…"

"What!?" He sat up again, pain be damned. "Are you okay!? Is Sensei okay!?"

"Yes, everyone's fine. I think…" She looked off to the side. "Ruiko ran out afterwards and I haven't seen her since." He let that settle in. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, he was happy to see that he could still move without feeling immediate pain, and checked it.

"_S-So many!?_" He went down the list. There were numerous messages from both Tsuchimikado and Aogami, even a couple from Mikoto (And they weren't fight requests, from what he could see, which surprised him greatly). In the end, however, he had a single message from Ruiko that almost seemed to mimic the one he'd sent her.

_-Saten Ruiko_

_I'm okay! In Uiharu's care. Get better soon!_

He sighed in relief.

"What happened?" Index asked.

"Ruiko's fine." He smiled at her and she smiled too.

"Thank goodness." She rubbed her eyes. "I don't know what I wouldn't done if something happened to her." She turned to Touma again. "Also… I think I should tell you…"

"What?"

"The Magicians. They said that there are only 2 days left." She frowned. "I suspect they mean 2 days until they come for me but why would they wait?" Touma was speechless.

2 days left?

"_That's why we have to erase them every year._"

Index did tell him that she had been running for the better part of a year. Did that mean that the cutoff date was approaching? Were they going to stupidly erase her memories yet again, even though Touma told them that it was a lie? He clenched his fist.

"Touma?" She rubbed her eyes again. Touma was interrupted from his thoughts.

"Are you tired?"

"No." She yawned. "…Yes." She admitted, sheepishly. Though she'd never tell Touma, she didn't sleep much since she was busy watching and taking care of him.

"You should sleep then. I'm up so it's fine." He managed to stand up and sat himself down near the table, gesturing for her to sleep on the futon.

"Well… okay…" She laid down and in moments, he could hear her breathing lighten. He sighed.

"_There has to be some other reason. Has to be._"

"_She isn't close enough to the cutoff point, is she!? You haven't seen her suffer when her brain gets too full! She gets a fever and cries! And yet, you can do nothing but erase that which gave her happiness!_"

But if her memory wasn't the issue, what was causing her pain? But then he remembered who'd made the lie about her perfect memory in the first place. The Church.

"Could it be a Spell?" He said, aloud, and looked over to the sleeping girl.

They'd put a Spell on her so she would have to rely on them.

Even if she somehow figured out their plan and escaped, she'd need to go back to them otherwise she would die.

And her comrades would agree with the plan to wipe her memories in order to save her.

Would kind of group would think of such a plan?

No, that didn't matter. He had to save Index first.

If it was a Spell, then his right hand could negate it. But he'd touched her before and nothing happened, aside from when she was wearing the Walking Church, and the Spell couldn't be self-regenerating like Innocentius.

At least he hoped it couldn't be.

So perhaps it was placed on a part of Index he had never touched before?

"_Gah…!_" He screamed in his head as his mind immediately went to the worst possible places. He pushed those thoughts out of his head, not even a group who would think of this plan would place the Spell there.

Perhaps it was on her head since it was close to the brain?

But if it was inside her skull or something like that, he'd have to give up.

But as he looked at her face, his eyes settled on her lips. They were giving him a strange feeling and so, rather reluctantly mind you, slipped his thumb and forefinger between her lips and forced them open. He looked inside and saw some sort of eerie, pure black symbol etched into the back of her throat. He felt incredibly uncomfortable, especially because she was asleep.

"You're kidding…" He forced himself to smile. "Do I really have to…?" He did. He narrowed his eyes, gathered his resolve and shoved a finger into the girls' mouth. He _really _hoped Komoe-sensei didn't walk in on this. He pushed forward until he tapped the back of her mouth and Index's body jumped, he assumed it was a gag reflex but his hand was shot out of her mouth by some strange force. Feeling immense pain, he looked at his hand and saw that the wounds dealt by Kanzaki had reopened.

Her eyes opened wide and glowed red, though it was more specific to say the blood red magic circles that had appeared in her eyes glowed.

The eyes looked at him and, before he could raise his right hand up, something exploded and he was blown into a bookcase.

"Warning: Chapter 3, Verse 2. All barriers for Index Librorum Prohibitorum's collar from first to third have been breached. Preparing to regenerate… failed. The collar cannot self-regenerate. Switching priority to eliminating the intruder in order to protect the 103,000 archived Grimoires."

The eyes pierced into Touma, as he stood back up, the pieces of the bookshelf falling off of him.

"_Magic!? I thought she couldn't use Magic!?_" He screamed in his head. "_Was that another lie by the Church? Or… was all her Magic power going into this defense mode…_" He shuddered to think of the amount of power she must have now, the Magical energy having built up for who knows how long.

He shuddered again when he realized he had to fight Index.

"Using the 103,000 archived Grimoires to determine the magic spell used to damage the barrier… failed. The specified magic cannot be determined. Putting together an anti-intruder local weapon to expose the composition of the spell." Index tilted her head like she was a corpse being controlled via strings. "The magic expected to be most effective on the specific intruder has been put together. Proceeding to activate the special magic known as St. George's Sanctuary to destroy the intruder."

Index began to chant something beyond human comprehension as the magic circles in her eyes grew, though the center remained her eyes.

And then they exploded.

Well, that's what it looked like. Pure black electricity stemmed out, looking as if they had formed cracks in space itself. The cracks spread, more and more as Touma clenched his fist.

This was it.

All he had to do was touch her once more and it would all be over.

But as he ran forward, a pillar of light erupted from the girl. He narrowly avoided it by rolling to the left, it had done it on pure instinct. He didn't run then, he stood in awe of the destructive power of that single attack. It had burned its way along the floor, destroyed everything in its path, leaving a large hole where Komoe's door should've been.

She fired it again but Touma was quick enough to throw up his right hand. Imagine Breaker met St. George's Sanctuary but it did not disperse, not all at once. Streams of light were scattered in every direction but the way blocked by his hand yet it did not disappear.

"_Is it like Innocentius!?_" He thought, fearfully. He used his left hand to support the right, which had begun stinging from the pain. The attack was actually beginning to dig into his hand! "_No. This is worse! Every individual piece of light is different!_"

"Kamijou!" He heard a woman yelled and he reluctantly turned his back to see Kanzaki, with Stiyl following behind. Had they been watching the house so they could arrive quickly in case something happened? "What is…?"

"That's Index!" He yelled at the two as he looked at 'Index' again. "And this is Magic! Can't you see that the Churched _lied_!?" He was being pushed back as the attack's strength seemed to multiply, it was actually overwhelming Imagine Breaker. Kamijou could hardly believe it.

"You-!" Stiyl began.

"Why would the Church let low level members like you know the truth!? They put this thing in Index so they could control her! Control the 103,000 Grimoires!" He grit his teeth as his right hand almost gave way. "Look at the reality in front of you, face the facts, ask Index if you must! But this is the chance you've been waiting for! The chance to become main characters and save this one girl you wish to protect with your lives!"

Stiyl grit his teeth for a second.

"Fortis931!" He threw up his hand as an uncountable amount of rune cards flew from his sleeves and pasted themselves against the wall. He walked up behind Touma and placed a hand on his back. "I don't need vague possibilities. Erasing her memories will save her life for now and I vowed to kill anyone that got in my way."

"For now!? To hell with that!" Touma grit his teeth, his hand was nearly at its limit. "Can't you see the ending you've always wanted, the perfect ending with everyone happy and smiling!? It's right in front of you! Just stretch out your hand and reach it! Just do it already, Magicians!" His hand gave out and was blasted back, the light pillar moved forward and was about to hit Touma.

"…Salvere000." Kanzaki yelled. She swung her sword through the air as Nanasen sped towards Index, though it was not aiming for her. The wires tore through the mats at her feet, causing her to lose her footing and stumble backwards. The light pillar that was oh so close to killing Kamijou instead sliced through the roof, like a large sword, and shot into the night sky. It sliced through the clouds and in fact, may have even sliced through a satellite in space.

The portions of the wall and ceiling that had been destroyed floated back down to the ground, now white feathers. Touma looked at the feathers strangely.

"Dragon's Breath… The attack of St. George's Dragon." Kanzaki muttered. "Don't let them touch you. If you do, you will surely be destroyed." Before Touma could even acknowledge that he'd heard, Index's body stood back up. While I say stood, I believe floated by into place would've been more appropriate.

Once again, the pillar of light headed straight for Touma.

"Innocentius!" The Flame Magician yelled as the flame god formed in front of the boy. The once enemy was now the only thing separating him from instant death. "Go, Esper! But should this not work, know that I will kill you before her time has come!"

With a nod, Touma ran past the fiery man and directly towards Index.

"Warning: Chapter 6, Verse 13. New enemy confirmed. Changing combat considerations. Beginning scan of the battlefield… done. Focusing on the destruction of the most difficult enemy, Kamijou Touma." Index moved her head, the beam of light followed but so did Innocentius, the battle between regeneration and destruction continuing.

But Touma ran. And he got closer.

And closer.

And closer.

"No! Above you!" Kaori cried out and Touma looked up, the feathers were getting dangerously close to the both of them but…

He could swing his right hand and negate them.

"Warning: Chapter 22, Verse 1. Analysis of the flame magic spell has succeeded. It is confirmed to be a distorted Christian motif described with runes. Adding in anti-Christian spells… Spell 1, Spell 2, and Spell 3. Twelve seconds until the complete activation of the spell named Eli Eli Lema Sabachthani."

The beam of white light turned into one of crimson and began to tear through Innocentius, whose regeneration speed seemed to have slowed.

"Innocentius!" Stiyl yelled.

Innocentius wouldn't last long enough for him to destroy the feathers and touch Index.

So it was one or the other.

Either save himself from the feathers or free Index's mind.

The answer was pretty easy to figure out.

"God, if this world, this story, is moving ahead according to the system you created!"

After all, who had he been fighting so hard for?

"…Then I'll destroy that illusion first!"

He slammed his hand down on Index's forehead, the magic circles instantly faded away. He almost laughed at how simple this seemed.

"…Warning: Final…Chapter, Verse Zero… The collar has received fatal… damage… Regeneration… impossible… gone." Her voice gradually shifted back to normal, feeling returned to her eyes. "…Touma?" She whimpered as her feet touched the ground once more. He heard the Magicians say something but he wasn't paying attention, something he would come to regret.

Before he could even reply to her, her eyes widened and she pushed him aside. He hit the ground and looked back at her.

Only to see her body go limp as the white feather touched her head.

He shuffled over to her quickly.

"Index!" He slightly lifted her body up with his left hand, his right was too busy waving around manically and destroying any remaining white feathers that came near them.

"Touma… Touma… I think… I might be in love…" She closed her eyes.

"Index!" He shook her, "Index, open your eyes! Index! INDEX!"

Despite Kamijou's best efforts, Index Librorum Prohibitorum had, once again, died.

_/Scene:_

**Location: School District 7; Hospital**

"This is the strangest thing." The frog faced doctor looked at Touma from his seat. It was now morning, Touma hadn't slept in the slightest. "Something happened in her brain but I can't be sure of what it is."

Touma moved his hands from his face. "Is that good or bad?"

"Either or." He admittedly, plainly. "It means that anything could happen. But having three people without an ID, and bringing one into my hospital, you're getting really bold, Kamijou-kun."

"Ah, sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to play off his nervousness. "You were able to keep this as shush shush as possible, right?"

"Yes. I was the only one who looked at her and everyone else thinks it's you." He seemed to chuckle before continuing. "I even put her in your room."

"That's good. Wait, _my _room?"

"Well, no one can deny that you occupy my hospital a shockingly high percent of your life, especially for someone without a terminal illness." He explained. "And if you hadn't noticed, I've always given you the same room."

"EH!? I wasn't imagining that then!?"

"Afraid not. We've even thought about putting a 'Kamijou' plaque near the door."

"…That's not funny!" He sighed. "Can I see her?"

"Go ahead." He motioned towards his office's door. "You should know the way. It's your room, after all." Touma's face told him that he was not amused.

_/Scene:_

He entered the room slowly, looking at the girl sitting on the white bed. She was looking out of the window with a smile on her face.

"Index…?"

"Yes? Oh, hello." She smiled at him. It was the same smile but… lacking, he supposed. He didn't know why.

"Hi. Do, uh, do you remember me?" Her smile immediately fell. "I… see."

He should be happy.

Index was alive after all. And she was free from whatever Magic the Church had put on her.

But the fact that she didn't remember him, not the fact that she didn't remember him saving her but that she didn't recognize him _at all, _upset him.

"I'm sorry." She looked down.

"No worries." He put on his best smile and stood there, silently; awkwardly.

The door opened again.

"Oh, it's you." Stiyl Magnus walked past him, sitting down in a chair next to Index. "Hello."

"Hello, Stiyl." She smiled at him, though it lacked remembrance just as her smile to Kamijou had, so he supposed that Stiyl had talked to her earlier today. He supposed that Stiyl was still happy, however. He got to start over with an Index that wasn't afraid of him.

He cursed himself for thinking such a thought.

"I wanted to show you to your escort but it seems like he showed up first."

"Huh?" Touma faced the Magician with a look of bewilderment.

"We talked to the Church. At first, they demanded that we return with Index." He puffed out air, as if he was smoking. "But when we asked them why they lied to us, they reconsidered. And then they had the audacity to request that we leave her in Academy city. With you."

"M-Me? Why?"

"How should I know?" He shrugged. "The fact of the matter is, you're her caretaker once again. For now." Touma let that sink in for a moment. "Though, personally, I can't stand any second you're around her."

"Does she… even remember the Grimoires?"

"Of course. Those memories are protected by Spells." He explained. "It's so we could not erase them as opposed to that year's memories." Touma crossed his arms. "Wipe that look off your face."

"Huh?" He wasn't aware he was making a face.

"Weren't you the one who told Kanzaki that even if her memories were gone, we should just make her next set even more precious?" He puffed out air again.

It was true. Touma had said that.

So why was he, now, being so depressed because he had to do the same thing?

This pain that he was feeling now. It was nothing compared to the pain Stiyl and Kaori went through. They had to experience this multiple times.

So Kamijou figured that he could manage.

"Right. Thanks." He actually smiled at the Magician, who frowned in response.

"I didn't do that to help you."

"_What's with that tsundere response!?_"

"I did it so you would stop looking so pitiful."

"Sorry…?" Touma didn't know what else to say. Stiyl rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Have fun, Kamijou." He left the room, leaving him speechless.

"Um, I didn't completely comprehend what he was talking about." Index began. "But if I'm going to be staying with you, then it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance! You already know my name, right?" Touma nodded. "What's yours?"

"Kamijou Touma."

"Touma… Touma…" She said the name a few more times and brought her hands to her chest. "I don't know why… but I feel like that name is special."

Touma couldn't fight the smile that tugged at his lips.

_/Scene: _Ending Phase: 「Oración」

_Author's Note: I'm sad. No, really, I am. I'm not sure when I first decided that Index would lose her memories instead. Perhaps it was when I realized that, according to my chain of events, it would happen around the same day Ruiko fell into a coma and I just felt like being a dick to Touma._

_But yeah. This was a lot harder to write than I gave it credit for. I wonder if I surprised any of you._

_Also, wow, I can't believe the arc's over next chapter… The next one will be an original one, by the way, and will certainly add something that hasn't happened in canon. _


	7. What's Going On

**Hello everyone!**

**It's been a while, huh? Sorry about the wait but I just went through quite a lot in my non-internet life.**

**I got a job!**

**Then I lost said job!**

**And just, uh, went through a really hard time.**

**But that's all past me and I'm ready to start writing again.**

**I'm planning on continuing both 'Cross the Distance' and 'Memories are a Fragile Thing' but both will be undergoing some rewrites, following by new chapters. **

**So look out for that soon! Hopefully, I'll be all ready by the end of next month! I'll put up another notice if I'm not.**


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